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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24402940">Of All The Burdens I Must Bear...</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clowns_or_Midgets/pseuds/Clowns_or_Midgets'>Clowns_or_Midgets</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadeys_World/pseuds/Jadeys_World'>Jadeys_World</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Brother Mine [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Archangel Sam Winchester, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Switched Lives, Temporary Character Death, cliffhanger ending</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:27:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>78,062</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24402940</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clowns_or_Midgets/pseuds/Clowns_or_Midgets, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadeys_World/pseuds/Jadeys_World</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck constructs the perfect punishment for Sam after the events of Moriah. Lucifer is given a new life to make amends for the burden his father placed on him when they defeated The Darkness. Sam is adrift and alone in his new life, left to find a new strength to cope without his new reality as the enemy.  </p><p>Beta: MaggieMay17<br/>Pre-readers: VegasGranny &amp; Ncsupnatfan</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Brother Mine [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>186</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Oh, buddy. We could've been something, you and me,” Lucifer said. “We could've remade the universe. It would've been great. We could've been better gods than Dad. And I really wanted that, pal. I wanted that. But now if I can't have it with you, I don't need you. I just need your power.”</em>
</p><p>Sam watched in helpless horror as Lucifer withdrew an archangel blade from his jacket and sliced across Jack’s throat.</p><p>His mind reeled as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing, of what was happening. This had happened before; he knew this moment. Lucifer would absorb Jack’s grace, and then he’d take Sam and Jack then try to force one of them to kill the other. Jack would be on the point of killing himself to save Sam, to leave him to end Lucifer, when Dean would arrive with Michael as a passenger that would take control when Lucifer was dead.</p><p>That whole nightmare spiraled from the moment he remembered, so how was he seeing it again? What the hell was happening.</p><p>He leaped forward, not sure what he could do to stop Lucifer but needing to act, and then he staggered as his head swam with dizziness. He blinked, still desperate to get to Jack, and he felt a jolt as he realized his position had changed.</p><p>He was now in Lucifer’s place facing Jack. His mouth was open as grace flowed from Jack’s throat and into him. He felt it entering, flooding him with warmth and power in a way he’d not felt since he was drinking demon blood, though this was more, so much more. The power spread through his veins, lighting each nerve. It was unlike anything he’d felt before.</p><p>He made an inarticulate sound of shock and pressed his hand to Jack’s throat as if he could staunch the flow of grace. Jack’s eyes widened, and then an incredible and grossly wrong thing happened. Light glowed under Sam’s hand as he felt a hum as if he’d pressed it to a loudspeaker. He yanked his hand back automatically and saw that Jack’s wound had healed. </p><p>“What…” he said breathlessly. “Jack?”</p><p>Castiel grabbed Jack and yanked him away from Sam then stood in front of him as if shielding him. Sam’s eyes found Dean, searching for reassurance as he always did in times of stress. He found him, but he wasn’t alone. Lucifer was standing beside Dean, and both their faces bore looks of hatred.</p><p>The expression, familiar in Lucifer’s face from the Cage, was unknown on Dean’s. No matter how bad things had gotten between then, even when Dean had been stalking Sam with a hammer, he’d never looked at him like that. </p><p>“You!” Sam snarled, taking a step towards Lucifer.</p><p>There was a laugh behind them, and Sam looked past him automatically to see Michael crumpled on the floor in his broken vessel. He was staring at Sam, his eyes bright with mirth. His laughter ended as his mouth opened and blue-white light filled the air as he escaped his ruined vessel and burst through the open door.</p><p>Sam’s moment’s distraction was all it took for Castiel to act. His blade slipped into his hand, and he plunged it into the side of Sam’s stomach.</p><p>Sam grunted, but it was a sound of shock, not real pain. It hurt, but not with the right kind of pain. Sam had been stabbed before, and he knew the way it scorched like a burn, but this was muted, warm but not hot. It felt more like an annoyance than an injury. He looked down and saw that there was blue-white light bleeding from the wound with the red blood.</p><p>What was happening to him?</p><p>“Cas!” Dean shouted.</p><p>Sam pushed Castiel aside, shoving him to the floor with far more ease than should be possible, and advanced on Lucifer.</p><p>Dean tried to step in his path, but he was quickly shoved away, too. Sam reached Lucifer and grabbed him by the throat. Lucifer’s eyes widened and his face reddened as Sam lifted him into the air until his feet were dangling.</p><p>He dragged Lucifer close and growled into his face. “What did you do?”</p><p>Lucifer seemed to be trying to speak, and though Sam couldn’t hear the words, he thought the whisper of desperate breath sounded like his brother’s name.</p><p>“Nick!” Dean shouted.</p><p>“Take it back!” Sam ordered.</p><p>Lucifer’s eyes were wide and scared, and Sam was immensely confused. How was he bleeding grace and Lucifer being overpowered so easily? This had to be some kind of crazy dream or hallucination. The last thing he remembered was being in the cemetery with Dean, Castiel, and Jack’s body, surrounded by the zombies that Chuck had created in revenge for Sam shooting him. It had been, to use Chuck’s words, the end.</p><p>Maybe he’d lost his mind. He couldn’t have rewound a year to this moment, and he definitely couldn’t be some kind of angel.</p><p>Something slammed into the back of Sam’s skull, and he dropped Lucifer and spun around, his mind spinning with confusion.</p><p>Jack was standing in front of him, a dagger in his hand with a golden blade and black leather-wrapped handle. Though he was shaking and pale, he looked furious, and he spoke between his teeth. “You hurt my family.”</p><p>Sam’s eyes moved between the blade in Jack’s tremoring hand and the determined look in his eyes, and he knew Jack was going to kill him.</p><p>“Do it, Jack!” Dean urged.</p><p>Jack jabbed the blade forward, and at the same moment, Sam felt something spread from the center of his back, a new weight, and then the floor disappeared from under his feet. There was a rush of speed and strength before he landed—that was the only word for it—in front of the familiar burned-out husk of what had once been a farmhouse then a sanctuary for his small family.</p><p>He was at Bobby’s house, and unless he was very wrong, he had just flown there. </p><p>A throat cleared behind him, and he turned to see Chuck standing on what had been the porch of Bobby’s house, his hands stuffed in his pockets.</p><p>Fire spread through Sam’s veins, and the weight at his back spread so that it seemed to be reaching for the air like fingers. “You!” he shouted.  </p><p>“Me.” Chuck walked down the steps and pulled his hands free and pointed them at Sam. “What do you think?”</p><p>“I think you’re an asshole. What have you done to me?”</p><p>Chuck laughed. “I call this a rewrite. The last book got away from me, you guys started making choices I didn’t agree with. I let you go with it for a while, as a character-driven story is always better than what you get when you force characters to follow an outline, but I didn’t like the end result. I think this new idea will be much better.”</p><p>Sam glared at him. “So this is the new story? I’m an <em>angel</em>?” He infected the word with derision for the insanity of what was happening.</p><p>Chuck shrugged. “You can’t deny it’s original for me. I’ve never done this to you before. You’ve been soulless, you’ve both been <em>possessed</em> by an archangel, Dean’s been a demon, but you’ve never experienced life on the flipside. I changed things up a little. You are technically an archangel, but I’m tweaking that a little, too. I don’t want a superpowered Sam running the show.” He tipped his head. “That would be far too easy. A good story comes with obstacles and character development. You wouldn’t believe the development I’m expecting from you this time.”</p><p>“What about Lucifer?” Sam asked. “What’s his part in all of this?”</p><p>“You mean Nick?” Chuck grinned. “That’s my favorite part. Two birds, one stone. I get to give him a second chance while getting my revenge on you. See, you shot me, Sam. I didn’t like that.” His jaw jutted out. “It was a plot twist I wasn’t expecting or willing to accept. It wasn’t all bad though; I enjoyed the surprise of it. You and Dean are usually predictable, and I don’t have much trouble making you do what I want. The only time you <em>really</em> challenge me is when I am putting you up against each other. Like when you were throwing your tantrum over Gadreel. I had to kill Dean to make that right, which wasn’t exactly original. And making Dean a demon… The fight he put up about killing <em>you…</em>” He whistled. “You both became so real to me when I was doing that.”</p><p>“We <em>are</em> real!” Sam snapped. “We’re not just characters in one of your sick stories.”  </p><p>“Sure you’re not,” Chuck said, his eyes dancing with mirth. “You’re all your own man. I am just an observer. At least that’s what you are now. I admit I was the one with the typewriter before. But this time…” He gave a little shiver. “I am letting <em>you</em> run the sandbox this time.”</p><p>Sam clenched his teeth, his anger bubbling to the surface again. “What’s the point? How does making me an <em>archangel</em> make the story better?”</p><p>“It doesn’t really,” Chuck admitted. “Not that alone anyway, which is why I’m doing this…” He withdrew a knife from his pocket and raised it. Sam tried to back away, but Chuck gripped his arm painfully tight and held him. With a satisfied smile, he swiped the tip of the knife quickly across Sam’s throat.</p><p>Sam felt warmth rise and then a terrible sense of loss as grace bled from him into the air. Chuck raised a small glass vial in his free hand, and the grace flowed into it. The pain of Sam’s stab wound seemed to grow as the grace left him until it was like a firebrand pressed to his stomach.</p><p>Chuck peered at it for a moment, then wiped a hand across Sam’s throat, healing the shallow wound and said, “That’ll do. I don’t want you completely powerless. You’ve got to be convincing.”</p><p>Sam pressed his hand to the wound on his stomach. “You can take what you want from me, I’m still killing Lucifer.”</p><p>“You’re really not,” Chuck said. “I told you, this is Lucifer’s second chance, too. He’s protected from you. You can choke him all you like, but you can’t kill him. He’s going to have his chance at normal while you suffer. See, he really is Dean’s brother now. Dean and Nick Winchester are the men that saved the world—more than once.”</p><p>He stopped and stared at Sam a moment, taking in his horrified reaction. Sam felt like he was being burned by the realization. Nick had his life. Sam was trapped as this… thing… and Nick was… He winced. Nick was a Winchester.</p><p>Chuck looked pleased with the effect his words had and went on smugly, “Sam Winchester has been erased from their memories. You never existed. It was only ever Nick and Dean. You, Sam, are the one that tried to end it, that tortured Nick for almost two centuries in the Cage. <em>You</em> are Lucifer now.”</p><p>Sam felt as if all the air had been driven from his lungs, and he couldn’t breathe in again. He was Lucifer! Of all the torments Chuck could have thought up, of the ways he could have killed him, he had done chosen something Sam couldn’t have imagined in his worst nightmares.</p><p>Chuck clapped his hands, clearly delighted. “This right here, your pain, is what is making this story great.” He tapped his chin. “So… if you’re worried about Lucifer hurting them, you don’t need to be. Nick loves his family.” He laughed softly. “I couldn't have Lucifer hurting and killing them now, could I? What would be the point of that?  Not a very good storyline and way too short. For you to know Dean is happy and will never know you just puts the icing on the cake.” </p><p>Sam’s heart sank. If Chuck was telling the truth, and he had no reason to doubt him after what he’d seen in the bunker, it meant he’d lost Dean completely. Nothing he could do, no matter how ardently he pleaded his case or how much of Chuck’s deceit he shared, Dean would never see the truth. Dean hated Lucifer with a passion that was almost as intense as Sam’s. And if Nick had taken Sam’s place…</p><p>His fisted hands shook. “You bastard!”</p><p>“I’ll take that just this once because I figure I’ve earned it, but that’s the last time you get to insult me, Sam. And it’s the last time you and I are going to be having a face-to-face until the end.”</p><p>“I thought ‘the end’ was what you did to us in that cemetery.”</p><p>Chuck rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, that wasn’t my best plan, admittedly. What I always loved about your story was the angst. When one of you is hurting, it makes the story for me.”</p><p>Sam was sickened. He and Dean had been through so much in their lives, more than anyone ever should have to face, and Chuck had enjoyed it. It had been his entertainment. And now he had created this new horror. Seeing him kill Jack had been awful, but he’d still not seen how twisted Chuck was until now.</p><p>Chuck considered him a moment then sighed, “Obviously, I prefer it when you’re both hurting, as that’s usually how it works, but this time it’s all you. And you were always my favorite one to hurt. If I’d let my original plot play out, you’d both have been dead within weeks, and there would be no do-over with the rules I’d applied to your canon. I am going to sit back and watch this story play out, loving every moment of it because I won’t know what’s coming this time.” He rubbed his hands together, his eyes bright with expectation.</p><p>“And if I tell Dean what you’ve done?” Sam ventured, still a smidgen of hope in him.</p><p>“He won’t believe you,” Chuck said dismissively. “I’ve made sure of that. If you’re smart, you’ll leave Dean and Nick alone. Let them live their lives together. There’s one obvious end to this story, and I’m not telling you what it is. I want to see if you guess it before reach it on your own.” He spread his arms. “And that’s me done. Enjoy the story, make it good. I’ll be watching closely.”</p><p>He looked Sam up and down one time, laughed, and pressed a hand to Sam’s stomach, right over his wound. “This pain is different, right?” he asked. “It’s real? This is all real.”</p><p>It was. This pain wasn’t Hell, not a dream or hallucination as Sam wished it was. This was life.</p><p>Chuck pressed down harder, and Sam groaned in pain. He tried to shove Chuck away, but before he could make contact, Chuck was gone, and Sam was alone, blood trickling down onto his pants, and his heart racing.</p><p>What was he supposed to do now?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dean staggered over to Nick who was crumpled on the floor, gasping and wheezing in a way that made Dean’s own breaths hard to take. He dropped down beside him. “Hey, take a breath, Nicky. You’re okay.”</p><p>Nick nodded and seemed to be trying, but his abused throat was constricting his breaths in a worrying way.</p><p>“Cas,” Dean called, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “A little help.”</p><p>Castiel appeared beside them and touched his fingers to Nick’s throat. There was a rush of light, and then Nick sucked in a lungful of air and blew it out in a relieved sigh, “Thanks, Cas,” he muttered.</p><p>“You okay, man?” Dean checked, and when Nick nodded, he got to his feet and hauled Nick up by one hand and steadied him.</p><p>“Jack,” Castiel said, his voice tentative.</p><p>Dean turned to Jack, who was leaning against a table and holding a hand to his throat. He looked stunned, and Dean realized he’d overlooked what Jack had gone through in his concern for his brother. Nick wasn’t the only one that had been hurt.  </p><p>Nick went to Jack and squeezed his shoulder. “Hey, buddy, you’re okay, right?”</p><p>Jack lowered his hand from his throat, his eyes woeful and his voice disbelieving. “He took my grace.”</p><p>Dean glanced at Castiel. “Did he get all of it? Is he human now like you were?”</p><p>Castiel narrowed his eyes and peered at Jack, concern furrowing his brow. “No. There is a trace left. It will replenish itself over time.”</p><p>“How much time?” Jack asked desperately.</p><p>Castiel opened his mouth to answer, sighed, then shook his head. “I don’t know. But it will.”</p><p>Jack looked stricken. “But I need it now! Lucifer is out there, and Michael escaped. How can I kill them without my grace?”</p><p>Nick squeezed his shoulder and said, “It’s okay, Jack. We’ve beaten Lucifer once, and we took Michael down in this world, and we didn’t have superpowers. We did it together, and we can do it again, got it?”</p><p>Dean swallowed hard. They had beaten Lucifer before, and Michael, but that had come at a cost he would never be willing to pay again. He wasn’t losing Nick for this. Never again.</p><p>Nick glanced at him, seemed to see Dean’s turmoil, and he smiled slightly in his annoying I’m-can-and-will-do-this-Dean way that usually meant he was about to throw himself into the fire.</p><p>Instead of reassuring Dean as Nick obviously intended it to do, it made bile rise in his throat, and his voice came harshly. “We’re not doing that again, Nick. No way.”</p><p>Castiel and Jack looked between them, Jack confused and Castiel suspicious. Jack had never heard the full story of how they’d beaten Lucifer last time. Nick hadn’t offered up the story, so Dean had figured he didn’t want Jack to know. He’d had respected that and kept his own silence.</p><p>Besides, they’d had bigger issues to deal with.</p><p>“No, Nick,” Castiel said, his voice firm. “Even if any of us were willing to let you do that again, it would never work. Lucifer has a vessel that will sustain him, thanks to Crowley’s machinations, so he won’t need you, and we cannot trick either of them in. It would take more than that to defeat them.”</p><p>Nick looked understandably relieved, but there was also a trace of guilt in his blue eyes. Dean was glad to see more relief than guilt as it meant Nick was thinking smart instead of plotting to throw himself into the Pit again behind their backs. Given his history, Dean wouldn’t put it past him to try. Nick was stubborn as all hell and loved intensely. If he thought it would save his family, he would throw himself into the Pit without hesitation. Dean would do the same if it came down to it, but he would exhaust other options first. Nick was more impetuous.</p><p>“We’ll find another way,” Castiel finished.</p><p>Though Nick nodded, he looked worried. Jack looked horrified still. Dean guessed he was struggling with the loss of his grace coupled with the betrayal of his father. He’d been coming around to Lucifer before it happened, seeing him as the good guy, and it had cost him.</p><p>Dean had felt annoyed that Jack had allowed himself to be fooled after all they’d told him about Lucifer, but he knew blood had a big draw. Jack could probably relate to Lucifer on a level of power, if nothing else.</p><p>“We should call Mom,” Nick said. “She and Bobby need to know what’s happening. They’re probably going out of their heads.”</p><p>Dean nodded and withdrew his phone from his pocket. He hit the speed dial assigned to Mary and raised it to his ear. It was answered after only a moment, and Dean was unsurprised to hear an echo in the call instead of the sound of an engine. They’d told her and Bobby to get Maggie out of there, wanting her safe, but they’d not gone far; from the echo, he figured she was in the garage. He probably should have been pleased that she’d listened enough to get away as far as she had.</p><p>“Dean! Are you okay? Is Nick?”</p><p>“We’re fine,” Dean said, figuring she didn’t need to know about Nick’s near-strangulation at Lucifer’s hands. The evidence of it, Nick’s strained breaths and the fingerprints around his throat, were gone thanks to Castiel.</p><p>“What about Michael?” she asked.</p><p>“He got away,” Dean said, glancing at the body of Michael’s vessel on the floor. He had little sympathy for the man he’d been before Michael took him over—even though he knew the pressure that would have been put on him to give consent—since it was that man who had given Michael a vessel to destroy a world with.</p><p>Mary cursed.</p><p>“Lucifer, too,” he said. “Turns out the change of heart was a load of crap. He was a dick all along. He took… He hurt Jack.”</p><p>“Is he okay? Wait. I’m coming.”</p><p>The call clicked off, and Dean tucked his phone back in his pocket.</p><p>“Mom’s on her way?” Nick guessed.</p><p>Dean nodded. “Let’s go. I need a drink.”</p><p>He crossed the library and went to the cabinet where they stored the decanters of whiskey and glasses. He poured one apiece for himself, Nick, and Mary, then hesitated before pouring one for Jack. He figured the kid could use a medicinal hit.</p><p>He took two of the glasses and carried them to the table, and Nick brought the others as Mary rushed into the room, followed by Bobby and a nervous-looking Maggie. Mary’s eyes moved between them all, seeking visual reassurance, then she asked, “Are you really okay?”</p><p>Nick and Dean nodded, but Jack didn’t answer. His hand went back to his throat as if feeling for the wound that Lucifer had created to steal his grace.</p><p>Bobby looked at the body of Michael’s vessel, his jaw tight with tension. “What happened? How did he get away?”</p><p>He sounded angry, which Dean understood but wished he’d toned it down as Jack flinched and looked into his eyes as he said, “I couldn’t stop him. Lucifer took my grace.”</p><p>Mary gasped. “Your <em>grace</em>?”</p><p>Jack nodded dolefully.</p><p>“How?” Bobby asked. “You’re powerful enough to knock him on his ass.”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter how,” Nick said, glaring at Bobby. “It’s done. What we need to work out is what we’re going to do next. Lucifer didn’t just take Jack’s grace away from him—he took it in himself. He has Jack’s power now.”</p><p>“Well, ain’t that just perfect," Bobby said bitterly. "We've got two archangels to take down, and one of them is even more turbo-charged than before." </p><p>Nick pushed a glass into his hand and said, “Have a drink, Bobby.” The message behind it was as clear as if he’d spoken it aloud—have a drink and shut up.</p><p>Castiel pulled out a chair and guided Jack into it. Dean thought it was probably a good idea as Jack was unsteady and pale still.</p><p>Nick gave Jack a glass and then sat down beside him.</p><p>They all joined them, Maggie, too, though she seemed a little detached from what was happening around her. Bobby took his seat last, pulling the chair far back as if wanting to separate himself from them. Nick shot him an annoyed look. Nick had a temper, and Bobby was pushing his buttons by making Jack uncomfortable.</p><p>“Lucifer might be turbocharged, but there was something wrong with him,” Castiel said. “Did you notice?”</p><p>“Yes,” Nick said. “It was like he was tripping out. He was confused after he took Jack’s grace; it was like he couldn’t work out what was happening. He told me to ‘take it back.' And when he healed Jack, it was like he didn’t even know what he was doing: it was automatic.” Nick glanced at Jack again, who was staring into the depths of his glass. “And he didn’t take it all. He stopped, healed him.”</p><p>Dean had been consumed with what was happening around him, Lucifer’s fingers around his brother’s neck, but now he analyzed the scene and saw what they meant. Lucifer was his arrogant and cruel self at first, but after he took Jack’s grace in, it seemed to do something to him. And he had stopped. He could have had it all, taken all of Jack’s power, but he hadn’t.</p><p>“Do you think he meant take the grace back, Cas?” Nick asked. “Like it was doing something to him.”</p><p>Dean’s eyes snapped to Castiel, a flicker of hope in his chest.</p><p>Castiel’s brow furrowed. “Perhaps. Grace is the true essence of an angel. It’s not technically the same as a soul is to a human, as we retain almost everything of ourselves if it’s gone, but… When I took Theo’s grace, I also took some of his memories and… feelings. I felt things a little differently to the way I did when I had my own. It was the same after Crowley gave me Adina’s.” He fell silent for a moment and then said, “They were both tainted angels. Jack is perhaps the purest being any of us have ever known.”</p><p>Jack shifted uncomfortably, and Nick nudged his arm and said, “He’s not wrong, kid.”</p><p>“I imagine feeling that kind of purity would be a shock for an angel with the kind of darkness Lucifer possesses. He could be struggling with that,” Castiel went on.</p><p>“What does that mean for us, though?” Bobby asked. “Do we have a crazy as well as turbo-charged archangel to deal with?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Castiel admitted. “We could hope that the level of purity will positively affect him, that his own darkness would be tempered by it, or…”</p><p>“Or he could just carry on being an asshole but with more power,” Dean said.</p><p>Castiel bowed his head, his brow furrowed. “Yes.”</p><p>“I think that’s more likely,” Nick said. “He didn’t seem all that positive when he was choking me or throwing you and Dean around.”</p><p>Mary’s eyes widened. “He choked you!”</p><p>Nick held up a hand. “I’m fine, Mom. Cas healed me. My point is that he’s not showing any good changes so far. I think we’ve got to accept that he’s going to be as cruel as he always was.”</p><p>Dean thought Nick was probably right. It would have been good to have a more mellow Lucifer to take down, though. It definitely would have made things easier. As it was, Dean felt lost. Two archangels, one of them charged up with Nephilim grace and possibly crazy, the other that had already destroyed one world, were going to take a lot of work to stop. They’d not faced odds like it since Amara, and he doubted God was going to sweep in and help them out this time.</p><p>“What about the archangel blade?” Bobby asked. “We’ve still got that.”</p><p>“We can’t kill either of them with it,” Nick said. “It needs another archangel behind it to work. The only way we can kill them with a weapon is if we get one of their own blades off them, and I don’t see that happening.”</p><p>Dean nodded his agreement. When he’d been egging Jack on, he’d been only hoping they could hurt Lucifer, drive him away. It had worked, but it wasn’t likely it would again. He had a feeling Lucifer—and Michael, too—were more likely to smite them instead of ducking and running next time.</p><p>“Lucifer did flee the blade though,” Castiel pointed out.</p><p>Nick shrugged. “He was already bleeding and freaking out. He’ll already be healed by now, and maybe he’ll handle the grace confusion once he’s had a chance to get used to it. It’s not going to work again.”</p><p>“Then what the hell do we do?” Bobby growled.</p><p>“We stop, think, and research,” Castiel said. “Jack, you should rest. I will try to reach Naomi on angel radio. If I can persuade her to open the gates and see me, I can find out if she knows more about the archangels than we do. She was in the minds of all angels at some point, and she served Michael directly. There might be something that can help us.</p><p>Bobby glowered down at the tabletop and then said, “Sure, we’ll hope for that. I’ll get Maggie back into town. The rest of my people need to be filled in on what’s happening. I’m gonna have to tell them Michael is on the loose again.”  </p><p>"He's loose, but he doesn't have a vessel," Nick pointed out. "It will be hard for him to find another. We've got time on him anyway. It's Lucifer who's the biggest threat.”</p><p>“I’ll be sure to tell them that, too,” Bobby said. “That’ll cheer them all right up. It’s not like any of them were banking on the fact Lucifer seemed to turn over a new leaf or anything.” Before any of them could rebuke him or argue, he’d scraped back his chair and got to his feet. “Come on, Maggie.”</p><p>Maggie stood, and they both walked from the room together, eyes falling on the body quickly before moving on.</p><p>“We need to deal with him,” Nick said, thumbing at the vessel’s body. “He’s dead, and I don’t know what Michael is capable of in this world, if his power is any different, but I wouldn’t put it past him to find a way to bring him back and use him again.”</p><p>“We’ll salt and burn him,” Dean said.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Nick raised an eyebrow at him. “That might not stop him. It didn’t ours.”</p><p>Dean looked away as he remembered. They’d salted and burned Adam, but Michael had found a way to resurrect him to be a vessel. They were going to have to get creative this time. Maybe storing the ashes in a warded box. That would only inconvenience Michael, though.</p><p>Sooner or later—probably sooner—they were going to need to deal with both archangels, and their most powerful weapon, Jack, wasn’t going to be able to help.</p><p>Dean had a sneaking suspicion that made the whiskey glass in his hand tremor that it was going to cost something big to deal with them this time. Something he wasn’t willing to lose.</p><p>However it happened, he wasn’t giving up his family for it. Nick and Mary, Castiel and Jack, were the ones that mattered most to him. He wasn’t letting any of them go for this fight.</p><p>He’d done that before, allowed Nick to sacrifice himself, and he never would again.  </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For a full minute after Chuck left, Sam stood outside the ruined house that had once been like a home to him and just felt the wash of shock and desperation. He didn’t know what to do, how he was supposed to handle this new form of life.</p><p>Ultimately, the growing pool of blood on his shirt and jeans made him realize he needed to do something more than just stand there. The wound was painful, and, apparently, Chuck had taken too much grace for it to heal itself quickly. He was going to have to stitch it up.</p><p>Ordinarily, it would have been simple, even if Dean wasn’t there to do it for him. He’d get the first aid kit out of the trunk of the Impala or the med bay of the bunker, find somewhere clean, and sew himself up. But there was no bunker, no Impala; all he had in the world was the bloodstained clothes on his back.</p><p>He checked his pocket and saw he didn’t even have his wallet or phone. He’d left them in the bunker.</p><p>He couldn’t go to anyone else to sew him up—he had no idea if the grace still in him that would make an appearance if the wound was disturbed—so he had to find a place with the supplies he needed. Hospitals had too many people and clinics had too much security. There was one option, and he figured it was late enough for it to be clear of people.</p><p>He started walking through the rows of junked cars, making his way to the arched iron exit. It would be easier if he could fly, but he had no idea how to do that. He could feel the weight of wings at his back, and when he flexed his shoulders, he felt them spread, but he had no control over them. They were there, a strange sensation that didn’t belong, but they were useless. He didn’t think they were even really physically there. He’d only ever seen the shadows of wings before, never their physical selves, and when he looked over his shoulders now, they were more like a heat haze.</p><p>They were useless, and he wished they were gone.</p><p>That was the smallest of his wishes. The biggest, most pressing, was for him to be able to go back a few hours and stop himself shooting Chuck. He’d still be facing trouble, and Jack would be dead, but he would at least be with his family. He would have Dean.</p><p>He had no one now.</p><p>He reached the road and set off in the direction of town. Bobby’s place was on the far edges of Sioux Falls, secluded except for a few other houses inhabited by people Sam had never met—though Bobby once mentioned a neighbor called Marcy with a wistful look in his eyes—and never really thought of. They were just part of the background when he visited Bobby’s place. Now they were more people he was putting at risk by angering God.</p><p>Or was he?</p><p>As he walked, he considered. Chuck’s revenge seemed designed to target him. He’d not been cruel to humanity directly before now. He’d left them to die when he’d failed to step in during the apocalypse and the disasters that came after, but he’d never been intentionally cruel. Sam had always thought of humans as God’s highest valued creations. He had lost Lucifer because of them, and he had loved him. Maybe the people were safe.</p><p>The more he thought about it, the more Sam realized this new situation, though misery and torment to him, was actually the best outcome for the rest of the world, including the people he loved. Lucifer was basically neutralized as he was now just Nick, taking Sam’s place in their family. Jack was alive and hadn’t too much of his grace—thanks to Sam’s instinctive and timely healing—so the balance that maintained his lifeforce was still there. Mary was alive and with Dean. In fact, the only one that stood to suffer in this new situation was Sam. Everyone else could be happy.</p><p>Maybe this was for the best.</p><p>The idea made Sam recoil within himself. It couldn’t be for the best. His family was with Lucifer, the person that had tried to end the world and killed Castiel more than once. He probably would have killed Mary if he’d not needed her to get to Jack when they found a way back to their world. It was a nightmare.</p><p><em>Lucifer isn’t Nick</em>, a small voice whispered to him, quiet as if coming from a distance.</p><p>As shocking as it was to hear a voice in his head—the traumatic memories of his hallucinations burgeoning to the surface with it—it was the identity of the voice that worried him. It was Gabriel.</p><p><em>This is his second chance, </em>Gabriel went on<em>. Dad gave him that. Would he have done that while allowing him to be the monster he was before? He would take all that away, Sam. Nick would be the brother I knew again. </em></p><p>“No,” Sam said aloud to the darkness. “Some things are ingrained. Lucifer is evil.”</p><p>
  <em>Is he really?</em>
</p><p>“Yes!” Sam said defiantly.</p><p>He knew Lucifer better than anyone. He’d had almost two centuries to come to know him in the Cage. He knew every facet of his personality, the way he enjoyed causing pain, the way Sam’s cries would ignite something in his eyes.  </p><p>
  <em>He’s Nick now…</em>
</p><p>Sam cursed. He hated to think it, but he thought the voice could be right. If he was right about what Chuck had done and said, Nick was the man Lucifer had been before the Mark had corrupted him, and how bad could he have been if he was God’s favorite and the angel Michael and Gabriel had loved?</p><p>That made his situation more frustrating, and it made a childish part of him rebel at the unfairness of it. Nick had done so much more bad than him, he’d betrayed God and his family, he’d almost brought the world to its knees, but he got a second chance while Sam was cursed to this lonely existence.</p><p>
  <em>Technically, you were the one that hurt God. You shot him.</em>
</p><p>“Shut up!” Sam shouted.</p><p>The voice fell silent, and Sam sped his pace. He was feeling weak and tired—which seemed ridiculous for an angel—and the blood was still seeping from the wound. He needed to stop raging at the situation and voice of a dead archangel in his head and concentrate on taking care of himself. He wasn’t going to be killed by this injury, that was impossible, but he was going to end up falling on his ass on the side of the road if he didn’t get himself sewn up soon.</p><p>Headlights appeared in the distance, and he ducked his head and walked on. As tempting as it was to be given a ride into town, there was no way someone was going to take him where he needed to go instead of to a hospital. He held his arm awkwardly over the bloodiest spot on his side and hoped what remained visible would look like a spilled drink, not bloodstain.</p><p>To his relief, the car passed him without slowing, and he carried on walking. Heading to his next destination and problem.</p><p>xXx</p><p>Sam sighed with relief when he reached the veterinary clinic he was destined for and saw it was in darkness.</p><p>He had no lockpick with him, which would have pissed Dean off as he always maintained that they needed to keep one of them for situations of being locked down someplace as they often were. He figured he would be okay though. He was an angel now, though one with decreased strength, and the lock on the door of the office didn’t look that strong.</p><p>He looked up and down the street, pretending to be examining the displayed opening hours as a couple of women with linked arms passed him, staggering a little. They laughed with each other, barely casting him a glance. They were dressed as if coming home from a night on the town, and Sam guessed they’d drunk enough and were happy with each other’s company to not pay attention to him. When they were gone, he gripped the handle of the door and pushed it down roughly. He heard something snap inside, and the door opened.</p><p>He quickly entered and then pushed it closed again. It didn’t quite slot in place with its broken lock, so he grabbed a bundle of pamphlets from the table, folded them, and jammed them into the doorjamb. It held the door in place, and Sam moved deeper into the room, a strange quiet buzzing reaching his ears. It was so quiet he doubted he would have heard it if he’d been human still, even with honed hunter’s senses, but his angelic hearing picked it up clearly. He could also see clearly, too, even though the only light came from the streetlamps outside and didn’t give much illumination.</p><p>He looked behind the reception desk and saw a small white panel set into the wall with a blinking red light. It was a security alarm system. He circled the desk and punched it, cutting off the buzzing.</p><p>He turned away and took in the room. The walls were pasted with posters of pictures of dogs and cats with messages about worming and ticks. There was one with pictures of various breeds of dogs and another that listed the perils of a poor diet that advertised the brands of food that, Sam guessed, the practice got a bonus from companies for selling.  </p><p>He’d not been in a vet’s office since he’d last visited Amelia to take her out for lunch a lifetime ago, before Dean came back, before Don, before things had come together and fallen apart in equal measure. He knew it was the ideal place for him now, though. It had all the supplies he’d need to fix himself up, and it was as clean as any hospital.</p><p>He went through a swinging door marked as the clinic and looked around. Able to see still, he didn’t bother to turn on a light. Instead, he went straight to a cabinet across the room and pulled open the door. It contained a wealth of packages and boxes. He opened a few, finding plaster cast bandages and packets of tablets that he didn’t know the use of and didn’t think would help him anyway. On the second shelf he found a box of suture kits, and he grabbed one of them and a package of gauze and peroxide. He didn’t know if infection was a risk for an angel running on less than half-power, but he figured it was better to be safe than sorry.</p><p>He set his finds down on the stainless-steel table and pulled over a rolling stool and sat. He needed to keep his shirt to cover him when he was done, so he unbuttoned it and laid it down on the table before dampening some gauze with peroxide and wiping around the wound to clear the blood. It wasn’t that wide a wound, the beauty of an angel blade came in its power rather than the size of a wound, but he knew from the way it tugged inside that it was deep.</p><p>He cleaned the area thoroughly and then leaned back and tipped the bottle over the wound. The peroxide dripped inside, burning like fire, and spilled down to his pants. His next job when he got himself stitched up was to get clean clothes.</p><p>After that, he had no idea what to do.</p><p>He dried the edges of the wound and then tore open a suture kit then looked down at the wound.</p><p>“This is going to suck,” he muttered.</p><p>He took a breath and then pinched the edges of the wound together and forced the curved needle through the resistance then drew it out again, leaving the thread of a silk suture through his skin.</p><p>He repeated it, slowly closing the wound, until it was puckered and crossed with dark stitches. He let the needle hang for a moment as he cut the thread and wiped away the blood that had spilled as he dislodged the clots, then covered it with a dressing and got to his feet.</p><p>It felt a little better now that it was closed, though he knew it shouldn’t. The stitches usually hurt more than the wound at first until it settled, especially when he’d made them too tight. He figured it was a grace thing; maybe the wound could heal now that it wasn’t open.</p><p>He pulled on his shirt again and buttoned it, feeling the tackiness of blood against his skin, then froze as he heard the sound of an engine approaching and cutting off outside. Other cars had gone past while he was inside, but this was the first to have stopped. He had a feeling that, whoever it was driving, was coming in.</p><p>He looked around for another exit, but the room only had one door. Whoever it was out there, he was going to have to go past them to get out.                  </p><p>He looked around for a weapon, instinctively falling back on hunter reactions, and then gasped as something dropped into his right hand. He looked down and saw it was a long silver blade. Not an angel blade of the kind he’d wielded before; this one was longer and seemed to hold an inner light that they hadn’t. This was an archangel blade.</p><p>It seemed to hum in his mind, resonating with him, and he considered it for a moment before a voice cut through the air, and he started.</p><p>“Police! Come out with your hands up!”</p><p>Sam looked around the room again, analyzing the windows as a possible escape route and dismissing them as too small, then slowly walked towards the door.</p><p>“I’m coming out,” he called.</p><p>“Slowly. Hand’s up,” the voice replied.</p><p>He pushed open the door with a foot and slowly started to enter the large open area that served as an office with his hands raised in front of him.</p><p>“Drop your weapon!” a voice shouted, and this time it was one Sam recognized.</p><p>“Jody?” he said, louder than he intended.</p><p>“We know you’re in there. Come out with your hands up,” Jody commanded.</p><p>He walked into the room and saw Jody Mills was standing with a man Sam recognized as her deputy, Frank. They were both aiming guns at him.</p><p>“Drop your weapon!” Frank barked. “Drop it, or I will shoot!”</p><p>Sam just stared at Jody for a moment, seeing the fear in her face that had a depth he’d never seen before, even though he had seen her in some high-tension moments when her life had been in danger.</p><p>“Easy, Frank,” Jody cautioned. “Don’t shoot.”</p><p>Frank chanced an incredulous glance at her. “He’s <em>armed</em>, Sheriff!”</p><p> “I see that, but I know him. This guy is…” Jody swallowed hard, “dangerous.”</p><p>Sam huffed an unwilling laugh. He was dangerous; that was true on so many levels. He was a hunter that posed a danger to all kinds of monsters; he was a man that had made many mistakes that had killed some and put others in serious danger; he was armed with a blade that could disembowel them both in one well-aimed swing; he was now an archangel. Sam had never been more dangerous in his life.</p><p>But none that was what Jody saw, though. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she saw him as what he was now to her and all the people he loved—he was Lucifer, the devil; he was the enemy.</p><p>“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Sam said evenly. “I just want to leave.”</p><p>“No can do, buddy,” Frank said. “Drop your weapon and get down. Lie with your hands behind your back.”</p><p>Sam took a step forward, planning to walk around them and get out, but before he could two guns fired and he felt two hammer blows to his chest that knocked the breath out of him and made blood soak through his shirt.</p><p>“Seriously?” he rasped.</p><p>“What the hell?” Frank said, his voice weak with shock. “Sheriff?”</p><p>“It’s okay,” Jody said, her eyes tight with stress. “There’s no need for anyone to be hurt here. You can go, sir.”</p><p>“What is he, Sheriff?” Frank asked. “I know you’ve got some crazy theories and like the wackadoo cases, but this guy is…”</p><p>“Just leave, please,” Jody implored, her scared eyes on Sam.</p><p>Sam started walking again, and Frank corrected his aim to Sam’s head. Sam saw his finger depress the trigger, and at the same moment, the weight of his wings spread across his back and he took flight. He came to rest in the open-plan living room and kitchen of Rufus’ Montana cabin, and he stumbled back a step.</p><p>He looked down at the bloodstain on his chest, the bullet holes grouped close over his heart, and cursed. Their aim was perfect, and unless he wanted to dig the bullets out of his damn heart, which he didn’t think he could stomach, he was going to be carrying them around for the rest of his life.</p><p>He unbuttoned his shirt and looked at the perfectly positioned wounds, barely a millimeter between them, and sighed.</p><p>He was going to take care of these new wounds and then stop and regroup before figuring out what he would do next. He would give himself that brief reprieve since he wasn’t ready to think of the big picture.</p><p>He’d never been more lost.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was already coffee brewing in the kitchen when Dean got there, fresh from the shower that had dispelled enough of the drowsiness of a bad night’s sleep to make him feel human. He poured himself a cup and joined Mary and Castiel at the table.</p><p>Mary pushed over a bowl and the box of cereal, but Dean pushed it away with a grimace. “Maybe later,” he said.</p><p>Mary didn’t seem surprised, and by the shadows under her eyes and only half-eaten bowl of cornflakes in front of her that she wasn’t in the mood for food either.</p><p>“You look awful, Dean,” Castiel stated.</p><p>“Don’t sugar-coat it, Cas.”</p><p>Castiel shrugged. “Am I wrong?”</p><p>Dean, who had avoided his reflection when he’d cleaned up, forgoing a shave out of sheer tiredness, didn’t know how he looked. He figured it was bad if it was anywhere close to how he was feeling though.</p><p>“Where’s Nick and Jack?” he asked, wanting to redirect the topic of conversation.</p><p>“Nick was here earlier. I think he went to shower. Jack is sleeping still,” Castiel said. “He will be tired for a while without his grace. His body will need time to acclimatize to the difference.”</p><p>“Good,” Dean said with a yawn. “More time he spends sleeping, the less time he has to stew on what’s happening.”</p><p>“Shame that doesn’t work for us, too,” Mary said.</p><p>Dean’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah. I spent half the night turning over what happened. No matter how I come at it, we’re screwed. I don’t know how we’re going to get through this.”</p><p>“We always have before,” Castiel pointed out. “And we faced The Darkness who was infinitely more powerful.”</p><p>“Yeah, but we had Chuck then, and she had something she wanted. And there <em>was</em> a way to stop her. We can’t use the archangel blade on Michael or Lucifer ourselves, and there are no other archangels left. And I don’t think blasting Michael or Lucifer with a couple hundred thousand souls is going to work.” Dean perked up hopefully. “Is it?”</p><p>Castiel shook his head too fast for it to be believable. “Definitely not.”</p><p>Dean narrowed his eyes. “You really believe that? Or are you trying to stop one of us doing it?”</p><p>“Yes, I am certain it wouldn’t work,” Castiel said, his jaw jutting out. “Exposure to souls won’t destroy an archangel as it would have done Amara. We were trying to cancel out her darkness. Though, obviously, I would also prefer to steer you away from a suicide mission.”</p><p>Mary’s startled attention snapped to Dean. “Suicide mission?”</p><p>Dean waved a hand. “It’s nothing. It won’t work anyway.”</p><p>She didn’t look appeased, but Nick came in then and distracted her. He looked as tired as Dean felt, and his hair was uncombed and damp. Nick wasn’t exactly vain, but he usually took a little more care of his appearance than he had today. The fact he wasn’t bothering meant he was feeling the same way as Dean about things.</p><p>His phone was pressed to his ear, and he said, “Hold on, Jody. I’m here with Dean, Mom, and Cas now. I’ll put you on speaker.” He pressed a button and set the phone down on the table then sat down beside Mary. “Okay, what’s going on?”</p><p><em>“I saw Lucifer,” </em>Jody said. <em>“He showed up in town last night.”</em></p><p>“Shit,” Nick breathed.</p><p>“Are you okay, Jody?” Mary asked.</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah. I have no idea how I am, since I shot him and he looked pissed, but he didn’t hurt us. I was there with my deputy, Frank. We both unloaded a bullet apiece in him, but he just took off.”</em>
</p><p>“Why?” Mary asked, seeming to be speaking to herself.</p><p><em>“Damn good question,”</em> Jody said.</p><p>Nick’s eyebrows were high and his face pale. “You shot him! Jody, what were you thinking?”</p><p><em>“I wasn’t thinking, obviously,” </em>she said with a bite of anger. <em>“I panicked. He was armed and not leaving. Frank was with me, and, obviously, he had no idea what he was facing. It just happened.”</em></p><p>The fact that Jody, a damn good hunter and cop, had lost it enough to shoot the devil himself was a telling statement about the very real fear she’d felt.</p><p>“But he just left,” Castiel mused.</p><p><em>“Yeah, but that’s not the weirdest part,” </em>Jody said. <em>“He said he didn’t want to hurt anyone; he just wanted to leave. He’s obviously having no problems with his wings since he flew off when we started shooting, but it was like he wanted to get past us on foot instead of just flying out of there.”</em> Her sighing breath crackled the line for a moment, and then she said, almost apologetically, <em>“He wasn’t like you said, Mary. He seemed more… human.”</em></p><p>Dean hadn’t known his mother had ever discussed Lucifer with Jody, or anyone really. Though Mary had a different insight into who and what Lucifer was since she’d been trapped with him in the other world, she rarely spoke about him. Only Nick discussed him less than her. Nick seemed to keep a barrier between himself and the facts of Lucifer, only talking about him when he had to. Dean wondered what had made Mary open up to Jody and if Nick ever would.</p><p>“He is not human,” Castiel stated. “You can’t think like that, Jody. He’s the furthest thing from human there is. He is the purest kind of treat there is.”</p><p>
  <em>“I’m just saying what I saw.” </em>
</p><p>“No, Cas is right,” Nick said. “You can’t think of him as anything but evil. I don’t know why he didn’t kill you, but there’s got to be a reason, and it’s not because he had a change of heart about murder. It’s got to be a play on his part.”</p><p>
  <em>“Okay, I’m with you, I’ll remember it. There’s one more thing though. He knew me. He said my name, I heard him, and it sounded more… shocked, pleased in a way. It wasn’t a taunt or mocking thing the way I’d have expected. It was like he was happy to see me, and not to kill me.”</em>
</p><p>Nick shook his head briskly. “This is wrong. He’s not like that.”</p><p>
  <em>“Then what was it?”</em>
</p><p>“He would know you,” Castiel said. “He’s possessed both Nick and me at some point, and he had full access to our memories when he did. He knows who you are and what you mean to Nick and Dean. Though why he would be pleased… Unless it was pleasure in what he could do to you….”</p><p>“Then why didn’t he kill her?” Mary asked.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Castiel said, his voice tight with frustration. “Where was he when you saw him, Jody?”</p><p><em>“That’s another weird thing,”</em> she said. <em>“He was in a vet’s office. I responded when someone set the alarm off. Once he took off, I got Frank out of there and spent the night talking him down—he’s freaked by the fact he shot a man that disappeared. I went back this morning, though, and saw what he left behind. It looked like he’d been treating a wound. There were bloody bandages and a used suture kit. I think he was sewing something up. I thought angels came with automatic healing.”</em></p><p>“They do,” Castiel said. “It can’t have been Lucifer.”</p><p>
  <em>“It looked like him. I saw the picture that bitch Hess showed Nick; same ridiculous hair and height. It was kinda dark, but I saw enough to know it was him. And he flew away. Only an angel could do that, right?”</em>
</p><p>Dean pressed his fingers to his temples to offset the building pressure in his head. He didn’t understand what was happening, and he was worried.</p><p>Even if Lucifer had been somehow affected by Jack’s grace, maybe softened around the edges enough to not kill Jody—which seemed impossible to him—he’d still left the bunker chock full of Nephilim grace that should have only added to the power he already had. He shouldn’t be needing to stitch wounds.</p><p>“It’s got to be some kind of trick,” Nick said. “Maybe he wants us to think he’s weak. He could have staged the scene and set it somewhere he knew would get back to us. Why else would he have chosen Sioux Falls?” He nodded and his jaw tightened. “This is definitely a trick.”</p><p><em>“Maybe,”</em> Jody said, but Dean could tell she didn’t believe it.</p><p>“You’ve got to listen, Jody,” Dean said. “Lucifer <em>is</em> evil. He tricks people, plays the good guy. The fact he let you see him at all means he’s playing some game. Do not let your guard down.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ll come by and set you up with some protections. There are ways to hide you from angels, these sigils Cas can carve, and we can ward your house. They might not keep him out, but they’ll slow him down, maybe.” He glanced at Castiel. “Can we do that?”</p><p>Castiel considered a moment. “If he is powered down somehow…”</p><p>“Which he isn’t,” Nick cut in.</p><p>Castiel went on, undeterred. “…then we can use sigils to slow his progress and tone down his power. But if he’s still a powered archangel with additional grace, there is little we can do.”</p><p><em>“That’s reassuring,” </em>Jody said, the hardness in her voice showing her worry.</p><p>“We’ll do what we can,” Dean promised. “Get the girls together. If he knows about you, he knows about Claire and Alex. We’ll give you all the carvings, Patience included, to be safe. The most important thing you can do is hide though. Come stay here.”</p><p><em>“I’m not hiding,”</em> Jody snapped. <em>“I’ve got responsibilities in this town. I’m the sheriff. People are relying on me to keep them safe. I’m not leaving them so that I can be safe, leaving them unprotected.”</em></p><p>Nick rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to answer, but Dean spoke before he could. “We get that Jody, and we’ll do what we can to keep you safe while you keep going with your usual life, but you’ve got to be careful.”</p><p>“We can give her an angel blade,” Mary said. “Castiel was able to hurt Lucifer with one.”</p><p>Dean would have been reassured if not for the fact he knew Lucifer could kill a human with a snap of his fingers. If Jody came at him with a weapon that could cause him even a little pain, he was going to strike. Whatever game he was playing, if he was playing one, the good-guy act would probably get dismissed as soon as he was hurting.</p><p><em>“Sounds good,” </em>Jody said. <em>“I’ll keep Patience home from school. Alex is on the night shift, so she’ll be here anyway.”</em></p><p>“And Claire?” Castiel asked.</p><p>
  <em>“She’s going after a werewolf in Nebraska. I’ll give her a call.”</em>
</p><p>“Good,” Nick said. “You all need to be there when we come.” He glanced at his watch. “We’ll leave now and get to you by afternoon.”</p><p><em>“Got it,” </em>Jody said. <em>“I’ll fix you some ribs to take home.”</em></p><p>Dean smiled automatically at the offer, but Nick frowned. Dean had a feeling he was about to say something cutting, so he quickly said, “We’ll see you soon, Jody,” and ended the call before her goodbyes finished.</p><p>“She doesn’t get it,” Nick said, his hands fisting on the tabletop. “Lucifer has fooled her.”</p><p>“He has,” Castiel agreed. “But we’ll find a way to convince her of the truth.”</p><p>“Maybe he hasn’t,” Mary said. “I’m not saying he’s good, but there could be something else going on here. If Jack’s grace is affecting him, he could have changed. And the fact he needed to treat a wound…”</p><p>“No!” Nick snapped. “This is all a game.” He grabbed his phone and shoved it into his pocket before storming out of the room.</p><p>Mary watched him go and then sighed. “I don’t know what to say to him when he’s like this.”</p><p>“Me either,” Dean said. “But I’m pretty sure he’s right. Lucifer is playing the long game on this. He tried to do it to Nick when he was trying to get him as a vessel; he was working overtime on making himself seem like a good guy right up until the end. If he’s doing that again, we need to be even more careful because it means he’s got a big plan again.”</p><p>“You think he’ll turn his attention back to the apocalypse?” Castiel asked. “He didn’t seem to want that after I freed him. He seemed happier to work on a smaller scale.”</p><p>“Maybe he changed his mind,” Dean said darkly.</p><p>Mary rubbed her hands over her face. “Then what do we do?”</p><p>Dean scraped back his chair and got to his feet. “We go to Sioux Falls and take care of Jody and the girls.”</p><p>“And after that?” she asked.</p><p>Dean sighed. “Honestly, Mom, I don’t know. I’m going with what I can do right now. Cas, you come with us to help Jody and then put some time in on getting hold of Naomi. Me and Nick will come back here and help Jack. The big picture is going to have to wait.”</p><p>That was all he could think to do because that was all they could control. Everything else was too big for them right now.</p><p>xXx</p><p>Nick’s boots pounded the floor as he marched through the hall toward the library. His heart was racing, and there was a ringing in his ears that he was trying to banish to think clearly. It wasn’t Jody’s fault that she was taken in by Lucifer, she wouldn’t be the first person he’d tricked, but it frustrated him. It meant she was vulnerable to him, and that worried Nick.</p><p>The fact Lucifer had been that close to his friend made his bile rise. He could have killed her.</p><p>When he’d stopped Lucifer coming through the rift after him, he’d thought it was over. He was finally done with the monster that haunted his dreams. That should have been him taking control and ended his reign at last. But Lucifer, cunning and cruel, had found a way through, and now he was loaded with Jack’s grace. It was bad enough that he was even more powered than he had been before now, but he’d hurt Jack to gain that power, which felt like a failure. Jack was family, like a son, and Nick loved him and wanted to protect him. He was hurting now, and Nick didn’t know what to do for him. He wanted more than anything to make it right for his family, but he was useless.</p><p>If he could stop it by taking Lucifer back to the Cage, he would, doing whatever it took to make it happen, but he couldn’t see how he could. Lucifer didn’t need him as a vessel anymore. He had that Sam guy, the vessel he’d taken at the beginning of the apocalypse.</p><p>Nick’s helplessness became anger, and he had never dealt with that well. </p><p>They had two archangels free in the world, and Jack was powered down. On the larger scale, that was enough to deal with, but there was also the fact Jack was going to have to come to terms with a new form of life with only Castiel able to relate to his situation on any level. Nick and Dean would be helpless to understand. </p><p>He passed through the library and came to the bedrooms. When he passed Jack’s room, he paused and considered knocking to see if he was awake. He didn’t want to take him from rest, but he had a feeling Jack might stay alone in there even when he woke, and that wouldn’t help anything.</p><p>Before he could decide, the door opened and Jack peered out. He gave Nick a wan smile and said, “I didn’t know if anyone else would be awake.”</p><p>“We’re all up,” Nick said. “Mom, Dean, and Cas are in the kitchen. We’re going to head out though. We got a call from a friend, Jody Mills, and we’ve got a problem.”</p><p>“Which one is it?” Jack asked. “Michael or Lucifer?”</p><p>Nick’s hands fisted as he felt a surge of anger at the pain in Jack’s voice that Lucifer had caused. “Lucifer. She saw him last night. He didn’t hurt her, but we’re going to set her up with some protections.”</p><p>“He <em>didn’t</em> hurt her?” he asked incredulously.</p><p>“No. He’s playing some kind of game with her, with us. He set it up to look like he was treating some kind of wound—probably the one Cas caused when he stabbed him.”</p><p>“That makes no sense.”</p><p>“It’s a game, Jack,” Nick said bitterly. “He’s trying to make it look as though he’s weaker than he is. He does this. He did it in the Cage, when he was…”</p><p>He trailed off. He didn’t like talking about what Lucifer had done to him there. Those endless years were among the worst memories of his life, and it was his absolute defeat in that place that hurt him. He remembered it clearly, even though Castiel had taken the pain of the experience from him, leaving him with the memories that his mind could handle without them killing him.</p><p>In the Cage, sometimes Nick had been left to watch as Michael and Lucifer fought, and Nick remembered how Lucifer had played at being weak to win the fight. Michael would get in a blow that seemed to beat Lucifer down, send him to his knees with his hands raised in a plea for mercy. Michael would stop, enjoying the moment of triumph, and Lucifer would strike then. Michael never seemed to learn from his mistake, though Nick always knew what was happening. Lucifer had played at being weak, and it had cost Michael. That was what he was trying to do now.</p><p>Nick wouldn’t let him trick any of them.</p><p>“What did he do, Nick?” Jack asked.</p><p>Nick shook his head and squeezed Jack’s shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. Just trust me, it’s an act.”</p><p>Jack looked into his eyes and shrugged. “Okay.”</p><p>“We’ve got to head out now. Mom is going to stay here.”</p><p>“I can come with you,” Jack offered.</p><p>“You can,” Nick agreed, “but we’re not going to be gone long, and it might be better for you to rest now. Go get something to eat, maybe sleep some more, stay safe.”</p><p>Jack glowered at him. “I’m not useless, Nick. I’m still me, even without my grace. He didn’t take <em>all</em> of it.”</p><p>“I know,” Nick said, his voice soft. “But you’ve been through something big and need time to recover before you throw yourself back into the fight. This is just a milk run for us. You don’t need to come.”</p><p>He didn’t want Jack facing Jody and the girls already. They would have questions and they’d want to talk about Lucifer, and they’d have to be told what Lucifer did to Jack. There was no need for Jack to be there for that.</p><p>He squeezed Jack’s shoulder again and was pleased when Jack nodded and said, “I’ll go eat then.”</p><p>Nick watched him walk along the hall and turn the corner and felt a wave of frustration at the sight of his slumped shoulders and plodding footsteps. He was hurting because of Lucifer.</p><p>Somehow, someway, Nick was going to find a way to make this right. Not just for Jack, but for the rest of his family, too.</p><p>Lucifer was going to pay.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam’s eyes opened, and he frowned as he looked around the room and recognized his surroundings. He was sprawled on the couch in Rufus’ cabin, and he didn’t understand why. They’d not been here in a long time, not since they’d settled in the bunker.</p><p>“Dean?” he called.  </p><p>There was no answer, and he sat up quickly, feeling the pain in his chest and side. He looked down at his bare chest, seeing the bloodied dressing over his heart, and the facts of his new situation rushed back at him.</p><p>“Shit,” he groaned.</p><p>He’d hoped that it had been a bad dream, but the bloody evidence pointed the flaw in that. He was still bearing the wounds Castiel, Jody, and her deputy had caused; he still felt the same strange awareness that made the birds singing outside the cabin louder than they should be and the tap dripping in the kitchen echo.</p><p>He was still an angel. Nick had still taken his place family with his family. He was still living with the consequences of shooting Chuck. His life was still in tatters.</p><p>He stood up and looked around. The detritus of his field surgery session in the night was on the table, the bloodied gauze and needle with a small remaining scrap of thread still attached. The dappled light beneath the trees outside was brighter than he’d expected. He’d slept far later than he thought.</p><p>The fact he’d slept at all was both strange and comforting. He was pleased to still have some aspect of the humanity that had been stolen from him, but he shouldn’t be able to sleep as an angel. Towards the end of the apocalypse, when Castiel’s batteries were almost spent, he’d slept, but he’d been pretty much neutralized at the time, and Sam still felt strong. Perhaps it was just because he was stronger than a human that he noticed it.</p><p>He considered his situation and broke it down to his immediate needs, which were clean clothes. He thought he’d left a couple of changes when he and Dean had been there last, so he made his way up the stairs to the bedroom where he found two clean shirts, jeans, and underwear in a drawer of the dresser. He stripped off his bloodied clothes, went to the bathroom and cleaned up with a washcloth, and then went into the bedroom again and dressed in clean and dry clothes, tossing the ruined ones into a corner.</p><p>He went back downstairs and dropped onto the couch, wincing as his wounds pulled, wondering what he was supposed to do next. He felt at a loss. He didn’t know what the next step was. He didn’t feel hungry at all, so he figured that particular part of humanity had been left behind. But what else was there?</p><p>He put his head in his hands and groaned.</p><p>“Really, you’re going with defeat?” a voice asked. “You can’t think of anything more useful to do?”</p><p>Sam’s head snapped up, and he saw Billie standing on the other side of the small coffee table. </p><p>He jumped to his feet, making his wounds sear with pain. “Billie!”</p><p>“Hello, Sam.”</p><p>Sam gasped. “You called me Sam! You know who I am? How?”</p><p>“Did you forget who you’re talking to? I’m Death. No parlor trick of God is able to interfere with my memories. I can see the dual memories that he tried to create, and I feel which one is true and which bears the echo of a lie. What I don’t understand is why he did it.” She lifted her chin. “Feel like explaining?”</p><p>“I shot him,” Sam admitted. “It turned out he was screwing with us all this time, telling a story. Every bad thing that happened to us, all the death and loss, was down to him. And then he killed Jack. I lost my head. I just wanted him to hurt the way we did after what he did to us.” He clenched his jaw as the memories flashed through his mind. "He brought me back here, a year behind where I was then, and swapped my place with Lucifer. ‘Nick’ gets a new life, and I get…” he spread his arms “…this.” </p><p>“He brought you back a year?"</p><p>Sam nodded. “Back to yesterday, when Lucifer took Jack’s grace. I was there, me, and then suddenly I was Lucifer.”</p><p>She smirked. “He really pulled out all the stops for you, didn’t he?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s hilarious,” Sam snapped.</p><p>She raised an eyebrow, and her lips pressed into a thin, unimpressed line. “Have you forgotten who you’re talking to again?”</p><p>Sam blew out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry, Billie. I'm just dealing with a lot of crap, and I'm pissed. I'm a damn archangel with hardly any grace since he drained my batteries. I've got a stab wound, I've been shot twice, and I've got two bullets lodged in my heart since I can't exactly dig them out myself and it's not like I can go to a hospital."</p><p>Billie considered him a moment and then circled the table and pulled open his shirt.  </p><p>Sam took a step back. “What are you doing?”</p><p>“Be still,” she commanded and tore off the dressing.</p><p>Sam tried to flinch away, but it was like her hand had a magnetic pull as she placed it on his chest. The sensation was increased when he felt a sharp pain over the wound and the sense of something being drawn out of him. The pain increased, and he cried out, falling back onto the couch when she removed her hand and held it out with two slugs on it. The stitches were torn, but the skin was holding together without them, though it was still raw and sore.</p><p>Sam reached out and took the bullets from her and held them up to his eye. “They sure hurt for something so small,” he said.</p><p>“Imagine how the monsters you’ve unloaded guns into felt when you did it.”</p><p>“They were monsters,” Sam said.</p><p>“Yes, and technically, to the world, so are you. I have the full memories of the world God recreated, and even though I see it’s false, I remember all your crimes.”</p><p>Anger rose in him, and he shouted. “They weren’t mine!”</p><p>She narrowed her eyes, and he drew a calming breath.</p><p>“To the rest of the world, they are your crimes.” She lowered her voice to a warning tone. “To <em>Dean</em>, they are.”</p><p>Sam ran a hand through his hair and looked away. That was perhaps the worst part of this. He’d lost Dean, and that hurt, but Dean thought he was the devil, which was so much worse. All the awful things Lucifer had done were down to Sam as far as his brother knew. When he looked at Sam, he saw Satan.</p><p>The memory of the way Dean had looked at him, the open hatred, burned like acid. Of all the beings Chuck could have swapped him with, it had to be the one they hated above all others; it was the monster that had broken Sam’s soul.</p><p>“I didn’t come to make you see the truth of your situation,” Billie said. “That would have been obvious to you after a few more interactions with your family, since we both know you wouldn’t have been able to stay away from them. I came to warn you of something so you can protect your brother.”</p><p>Sam’s head snapped up, and he quickly got to his feet again. “What’s wrong with Dean? Is it Lucifer? Will he hurt him?”</p><p>“<em>You</em> are Lucifer now,” she said impatiently. “It’s not just a change of memories God created. Nick Winchester is Dean’s brother now. He is Mary’s son, Castiel’s brother-in-arms, one of Jack’s surrogate fathers. He has the place you once had. You were the one that was overpowered and dragged to the Cage with Michael by Nick. And you were the one that tortured him for almost two centuries. Nick is the one with the ravaged soul. Just because you don’t remember doing it, it doesn’t make it any less true.”</p><p>Sam waved away her words. “Sure, yeah, I did all that, but Lucifer, or <em>Nick,</em> is still bad news.”</p><p>“He’s really not. He is a good man that loves his family. Actually, his love for his family is his most defining feature. He would die for them in a heartbeat, and he would kill to protect them. He hasn’t just taken your place in that life; he’s his own man with shared experiences with different choices made.”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>Billie tapped her chin. “If we go right back to the beginning, there’s college. Nick went to Stanford, but he remained in contact with Dean while he was there. He never gave up his brother for a different life.”</p><p>“It wasn’t like that! I didn’t give Dean up!”</p><p>She looked amused. “That must be why you called him so often.”</p><p>Sam bowed his head so that he didn’t have to see her knowing gaze. That wasn’t how it had happened. It wasn’t like he ever stopped caring about Dean or thinking about him; he’d just known he couldn’t have both.</p><p>“What about my dad?” Sam asked. “Did Nick stay in contact with him?”</p><p>“He did. Nick was as devoted to him as Dean is in your story. When John disappeared, Nick gave up everything to help Dean to find him.”</p><p>Sam’s heart skipped as a wonderful possibility occurred to him. “And Jess?”</p><p>Billie looked oddly sympathetic as she said, “Alive and well. Living in San Francisco and working as a pediatrician.”</p><p>Sam closed his eyes, and he absorbed the shock and joy. Jess was alive. Nick hadn’t cursed her the way Sam had.</p><p>“There was no need for her to die as Nick didn’t become the civilian you did,” Billie went on. “Azazel was able to be patient, as Nick’s path was always on track to him.” She tilted her head to the side. “I think he was an even more promising candidate than you as he was a better hunter. He did have Jessica in his life, they dated for a while even, but he never gave himself over to her the way you did. They even stayed in touch for a while after Nick left Stanford.”</p><p>Sam forced himself to look at her again. “It really is a better world for them all, isn’t it?”</p><p>“It is,” she said with a small frown. “Does that change your mind?”</p><p>“About what?”</p><p>She tilted her head, her brows knitted together. “No. Perhaps not. I thought you would already be decided. I expected you to be dedicated to getting your own life back, killing Nick and taking his place.”</p><p>Sam rubbed the back of his neck. “I was kinda dealing with the small steps. I hadn’t worked out what to do next.”</p><p>“Then this is your chance. You know now that was God telling a story, which you should have guessed a long time ago; even I knew, and I was just a reaper. He wants a good story, and so has set in place an end for your situation.</p><p>“What is it?” Sam asked eagerly.</p><p>Billie shook her head. “I don’t know what it is, or even exactly what it means for you, I just know that it exists.”</p><p>Sam drew a breath in hopes of calming his racing heart. His overwrought mind was presenting in his body as uneven breaths and tingling nerves. There was a loophole, maybe a way he could have Dean back, all of his family, but he didn’t know how to get it. And it wasn’t just about him getting what he wanted and needed. According to Billie, he had to protect Dean.</p><p>“What am I protecting Dean from?” he asked, knowing that was the more pressing question.</p><p>“Michael.”</p><p>Sam’s flinched In the overwhelming nature of his own situation, he’d forgotten that Lucifer wasn’t the only threat in this time and place. Michael was out there, the archangel that had already destroyed one world. Even more pressing was the fact he had no vessel. He’d taken Dean before, broken their deal, and Dean had been gone for weeks. It had cost him so much to beat him down and trap him, and it had taken Jack’s soul to stop Michael in the end.</p><p>“I’ve got to kill him,” he said.</p><p>“That’s what I’d do if I were you,” Billie said. “No matter which direction you choose, to fight for your old life or to let them carry on without you, Michael should be stopped.”</p><p>“How do I do it?” Sam asked. “I’m weak. Chuck left me with hardly any grace. I can’t even heal myself. All I can do is fly, and it’s not like I have any control over that. I’ve only done it twice, and it was a gut reaction to being hurt. I reset to places I felt safe—Bobby’s the first time and then here.”</p><p>Billie eyed him for a moment and said, “You’re not as weak as you think. And Michael isn’t at the peak of his power now either. He’s weakened after Jack’s attack, and he doesn’t have the army he had in his own world. He’s never had to act alone before. If you strike sensibly, it will be close to an evenly matched fight.”</p><p>“Only close to?”</p><p>“He’s the older brother, Sam, the first archangel. You have the power of your strength of will and inner fight, but he’s more practiced at battle and ending worlds. He succeeded where you—where <em>Lucifer</em>—failed.” She stopped a moment as if struck by an idea. “He is fighting for himself and his own plans. You are fighting for something more important—your family. It would be an interesting battle.”</p><p>Sam’s mind was processing the information and bringing new questions to the fore. “What about the world? When Michael and Lucifer were destined to fight here, it was supposed to destroy half of the world.” He paused and thought over what he’d seen in the year he’d now lost. “Dean killed Lucifer without damage, but if I screw it up…”</p><p>“The only way you can minimize the damage is to make the battle as quick as possible. It’s not the death of an archangel that would do the damage. It’s the impact of two archangels battling. Perhaps if you can find a way to stack the odds in your favor, you can do it without costing other lives.”</p><p>“How?”</p><p>“You have allies, Sam.”</p><p>The only allies Sam could think of that Lucifer had were demons, and he could think of no use for them against an archangel, even if he was willing to stoop to using them.</p><p>“What allies do I have?” he asked.</p><p>“Do you always skip to the last page of a book?”</p><p>“This isn’t a book,” Sam growled. “It’s the world.”</p><p>“Be that as it may, I’m not skipping to the end of that particular tale. Just like God, I enjoy a story. I’ll watch you work it out for yourself.”</p><p>Sam’s hands fisted, and he felt the weight at his back as his wings spread in an unconscious show of force.</p><p>Billie laughed. “You can puff yourself up as much as you like, I am not afraid of you. The only threat to me comes from my own scythe, which my predecessor learned the hard way. I am smart enough to make sure that it stays out of your hands. I will tell you the end to one story, though. I read a few books before I came here today, a few shelves of them, in fact. Your stories, Sam. Of all the multiple ways you could die that were there before, there is only one source to that end now. It could happen in any of a hundred different ways, but it will happen at your brother’s hands.”</p><p>Sam’s heart lurched. “Dean’s going to kill me?”</p><p>“Yes. In every outcome, it’s Dean’s hands that end your story.”</p><p>“How? He can’t use the archangel blade.”</p><p>She smiled. “You’re right. He can’t use that blade. But that’s not the only weapon available, and death isn’t the only way to end a life.”</p><p>“Then what is there?”</p><p>Billie shook her head slowly. “That’s a plot twist I’m not going to spoil. You’ll find out in the end.”</p><p>“You’ve got to give me more than that,” Sam said desperately. “Please, Billie. I’m alone in this, and I’ve got to save them.”</p><p>“Save who? The world or your family?” she asked.</p><p>“Both.”</p><p>“I won’t spoil the story, but I will give you one advantage. You’re next to useless as an archangel until you learn to use your power. Contrary to popular opinion, angels have to learn to control their abilities; they just don’t remember doing it. They are too old to remember their beginnings, and that’s without that Naomi delving into their minds at every available opportunity.”</p><p>Sam’s eyebrows rose. “So, I have to learn how to be an angel?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>She snapped her fingers, and a woman appeared beside her. Sam recognized her as the reaper that had saved them when Michael’s monsters had been at the door in Kansas City. “Violet?”</p><p>“Lucifer!” She looked between Sam and Billie, her eyes wide and fearful.</p><p>“Only technically,” Billie said. “Violet, I want you to teach him how to use his abilities. Lucifer has had a… downgrade of power and knowledge. Give him everything you can. I promise you’ll be perfectly safe.”</p><p>Despite the reassurance, Violet looked scared, but it was clear that Billie’s authoritative air wasn’t going to allow her to ask for more information. She nodded dutifully and looked at Sam warily. “What do you need to know?”</p><p>“Everything,” Sam said.</p><p>“I suggest you start with flying,” Billie said.</p><p>Violet looked puzzled and still wary, but she looked at Sam and said, “Where would you like to go?”</p><p>“Anywhere,” Sam said. “I just need to know how.”</p><p>“Violet, report back to me when you’re done,” Billie said. “Sam, I will be keeping an eye on you. </p><p>Billie disappeared and left him standing alone with Violet.</p><p>Sam looked at the reaper, seeing her fear, and wondered how he was going to make this work. It was hard for him to be around someone that was so scared of him, but he needed the knowledge she had.</p><p>He needed all the tools available to kill Michael.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They pulled to a stop outside Jody’s house between her cruiser and the crapped-out Ford Claire used. Nick was out of the car and walking to the door before Dean even had the keys out of the ignition. He was eager to get inside so he could start working on Jody.</p><p>As they’d driven north, Nick had thought over their situation and come to a decision. He was going to have to push himself out of his comfort zone to get the danger of the situation across to Jody by telling her what he knew about Lucifer.</p><p>It was going to be tough as he was going to have to talk about the Cage and what had happened there, also what he had done before to lead the world to that point, which he hated doing. Not only was it the memories of the most painful part of his life that veered him away, but it was the fact it was him at his weakest.</p><p>After spending his life as a hunter and being trained by the best—both his father and Dean—he knew what weakness could cost you.</p><p>It was going to change the way they looked at him, he knew, but he thought it was worth it to get the point across.</p><p>The only person that knew how low Lucifer had brought him, how helpless he’d been and the end he’d wished for in those awful years, was Castiel. He’d gotten the full insight into Nick’s time in the Cage when he took the experience from him.</p><p>At first, Nick worried that it would change the way Castiel treated him, but when he’d woken, he’d been full-on crazy and had seemed to think nothing sane. However, when Castiel had gotten back from Purgatory, Nick thought he saw a difference in the way he looked at him.</p><p>They’d never discussed it, apart from when he’d tried in his stilted way to thank Castiel for it. Nick had struggled to conceal the emotion he’d felt, the guilt and gratitude, when he’d said it. Castiel hadn’t been a reassuring recipient of his thanks as he’d been out of his mind at the time.</p><p>With Dean still closing the car door behind him, Nick raised his hand to knock. Before his knuckles could make contact with the wood, the door opened and Alex grinned out at him. “Hey, Nick. Jody said you were coming.”</p><p>Nick nodded in greeting and stepped past her into the house when she gestured him in. He went straight to the living room where Claire was sitting on the couch with a heavy book open on her lap. Nick recognized it as one of the tomes he’d given her from the library when she’d started taking hunting seriously. That had only happened after her initial misguided attempts had cumulated with a lucky save that had cost Jody a broken leg and Nick more bruises than he cared to admit when the vampire had caught him off guard.</p><p>She looked up and said, “Trouble?”</p><p>“The worst kind,” Nick stated.</p><p>She snapped her book closed. “What is it?”</p><p>“In a minute,” Dean said, coming in behind him. “We only want to go over it once.”</p><p>Castiel came in and smiled tentatively at Claire. Nick knew Claire held a special place in Castiel’s heart that he didn’t think was solely guilt for what had happened to her life because of him. She was important to him as a person.</p><p>Nick cared about her, too. She was a good kid with a lot of potential. In the beginning, she’d annoyed him with all her teen angst, and it had taken a while for him to warm up to her. She was turning out to be a good hunter, though, and Nick saw even more potential in her with the right knowledge. He encouraged it, lending books and teaching her some of the tech tips he’d learned over the years. That was a point of contention between him and Castiel, though Dean never weighed in on either side. Nick figured that the more she knew, the safer she’d be, but Castiel still held hope for her to have a normal, safe, life.</p><p>Nick went into the kitchen where Jody was chopping peppers and Patience was sitting at the table with a textbook and legal pad in front of her. They both looked at him as he entered, and though Patience’s smile was a little confused along with welcoming, Jody looked solemn.</p><p>“You got here faster than I thought you would,” Jody said. “I’ve only just got the ribs started.”</p><p>“Dean was driving,” Nick said with a small smile. “Besides, this is urgent.”</p><p>Jody nodded and wiped her hands on a cloth. “Then let’s get started.”</p><p>She and Patience followed Nick back into the living room where Dean was sitting in an armchair, looking a little tense, and Castiel was standing sentinel beside Claire’s place on the couch.</p><p>“Hey, Jody,” Dean said, standing to receive her hug and then patting Patience’s shoulder before sinking down again. “How’s it going?”</p><p>“You mean apart from my late-night call out? Things are confusing.”</p><p>Nick’s jaw clenched. Things shouldn’t be confusing. Jody should be worried, knowing the dangers now threatening her and her girls.</p><p>Dean saw his reaction and shot him a sharp look that was clearly intended to be a warning for Nick to let him lead. Nick shrugged and fell into an armchair by the empty fireplace.</p><p>Everyone took seats apart from Castiel. Claire, Patience, and Alex sat lined up on the couch with expectant expressions. Jody perched on the couch arm.</p><p>“So, what’s going on?” Claire asked. “I left a werewolf in Lincoln to come back for this.”</p><p>“Lucifer is back,” Nick said.</p><p>Patience’s eyes widened. “Lucifer! As in Satan?”</p><p>“Yes,” Castiel said. “And his brother Michael.”</p><p>Alex looked horrified, but Claire was wearing an analyzing expression that Nick knew on his own face in the mirror. “What does that mean?” she asked.</p><p>“Big trouble,” Dean said. “We’ve come prepared though. We’ve got some ultraviolet paint that we’re going to use to paint sigils outside to protect you from angels inside the house, and Castiel is going to do something to make it so they can’t trace you.”</p><p>Castiel spoke up. “If you get face to face with one, they’re going to see you, but they won’t be able to find you from a distance.”</p><p>“Why would they come for us?” Patience asked.</p><p>“Because…” Jody grimaced. “I saw Lucifer last night.”   </p><p>Claire glowered. “And you didn’t mention it because…?”  </p><p>“I thought it was better to come at it when we have a solution,” Jody replied. “They’re here to show us what to do to protect ourselves.”</p><p>Nick leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees, and said, “Lucifer has a vessel, so he’s the biggest problem right now. Michael left his vessel, but he’ll be dangerous when he finds one. He’s from one of those worlds that Jack opened to us with Kaia.”</p><p>Claire looked away and bit her lip, and Jody shot Nick a scolding look. Nick sighed. He’d forgotten about Claire’s reaction to the dream walker’s death. He probably should have been a little more mindful of what he was saying, but he was stressed out and his focus was on other things.</p><p>“How hard will it be for Michael to find a vessel?” Jody asked. “It’s got to be a special kind of person, right?”</p><p>“It’ll be tougher for Michael than it would be a normal angel since they need a specific bloodline,” Dean said. “Our bloodline actually—me and Nick.”</p><p>“What about Mary?” Jody asked.  </p><p>“Not her,” Dean said. “Michael’s lineage comes down our Dad’s side. Lucifer’s is the Campbell bloodline—Mom’s family. But since Lucifer has his vessel, and it’s a good one thanks to Crowley, he’s not going to want to switch.”</p><p>“He won’t want me then?” Claire asked.</p><p>Nick started. He’d not even considered that Claire might be an option. She wasn’t of their bloodline, but she’d been a vessel for Castiel once, and Lucifer had used Castiel.</p><p>“No,” Castiel said, his expression kind. “You’re not of the Winchester bloodline.”</p><p>Nick frowned as he spotted a problem. If Claire wasn’t their bloodline, it meant Jimmy, and therefore Castiel wasn’t, but Lucifer had used him. Did that mean Michael could use another angel?</p><p>He posed the question, and all eyes fell on Castiel.</p><p>“It’s different for me,” Castiel said, shooting Claire an apologetic look. “When I was destroyed by Lucifer, there was nothing left at all.”</p><p>“Not even a molar,” Dean muttered, obviously remembering what had been left lodged in Chuck’s hair when it was Raphael that smote Castiel compared to the total obliteration of Lucifer’s smiting.</p><p>“Jimmy departed for Heaven, but his body was recreated for me by God,” Castiel went on. “It became the perfect vessel; it could be inhabited by any archangel without a bloodline connection.” He paused a moment and then said, “My vessel is universal.”</p><p>“Like a USB,” Alex said with a tentative smile.</p><p>“Exactly,” Castiel said, pleased. “But I will never give consent again. Michael cannot use me.”</p><p>“Nor me,” Dean said. “I’m the best vessel for him, his destined one, but I’m not giving up anything from him.”</p><p>Nick crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. He knew Dean was an option for Michael, the perfect option in fact, but he also knew Dean would never say yes.</p><p>“But he might come for you anyway,” Claire said. “Castiel used me when I was a kid.”</p><p>“I’m so sorry,” Castiel started. “I would never…”</p><p>Claire shot him a small smile. “I know, Cas. I’m just saying.”</p><p>“He’s no threat without a vessel,” Dean said. “Just grace on the air. All he could do is hang around. He won’t come for me.”</p><p>Nick gritted his teeth. He wasn’t sure Dean was right about Michael not coming, and that added a new dimension of trouble to their situation. Dean wouldn’t say yes, but how would Michael go about asking?</p><p>Nick would make sure Dean was safe if Michael did come. He would find a way to protect him.</p><p>“So, Michael is on hold, but Lucifer is out there and came after Jody?” Alex said, shooting a glance at her surrogate mother who smiled reassuringly.</p><p>“He didn’t ‘come for me’ exactly,” Jody said. “He was just there when I answered a callout. And he didn’t hurt me. He didn’t even seem to want to. He left Frank and me alive, even after we shot him.”</p><p>Claire snorted. “You shot the devil? Badass, Jody.”</p><p>“It was instinct,” Jody explained. “A damn stupid instinct. But me and Frank made it out okay. Well, basically okay. Frank is going to be stewing over it for a few months at least, since Lucifer flew off in front of him and lived with two bullets in the heart. He didn’t hurt us though.”</p><p>“Which means nothing good,” Nick said, a bite of the anger he was feeling in his voice. “It’s a game. He was weird with us, too. He acted like he was confused, and he stopped himself taking all of Jack’s grace. He wants us to think he’s weak and no threat. He <em>is </em>a threat though; he’s the biggest threat we have right now. And he won’t leave you alive if he comes back and decides you’re not worth keeping around. When he works out that we’re not fooled, he’ll go back to being a murderous psychopath, and none of us will be safe.”</p><p>Patience flinched.</p><p>“Don’t hold back, Nick,” Claire muttered.</p><p>“Fine!” Nick snapped. “I won’t!”</p><p>“Nick,” Dean said in a warning tone and with an expression that became worried when Nick went on, his voice impassioned.</p><p>“Do you want to know what I did? What he did to me?”</p><p>He looked around the room, seeing the expectant faces all focused on him and closed his eyes, not wanting to see them as he told his tale.</p><p>“I screwed up,” he said. “I did things… awful things… and they freed Lucifer. He was in a cage in Hell for millennia, but because of me, he got free. Do you remember the things that happened in 2009 and 2010? The earthquakes and hurricanes? The missing people and unexplained deaths?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Patience said slowly. “Wait! That was Lucifer?”</p><p>“It was the apocalypse,” Nick said, opening his eyes and meeting her gaze.</p><p>“I remember that,” Alex said quietly. “My... the nest were all excited about it. They were rowdy, hunting more and more. They talked about the end, but it wasn’t like they were scared.”</p><p>“They probably thought they’d survive it,” Dean said.</p><p>“That excitement, that end, that was because of me,” Nick said. “And Lucifer needed me. He came to me as my Dad, trying to persuade me to give him consent as a vessel. He was so… open. He made promises, told me he’d always be honest. I was almost fooled for a moment.” He shook his head and cut his tale short. “The only way to stop it was to send him back to the Cage, and the only way to do that was for me to take him. I did it, got him in there—and Michael—but then I was trapped with them in Hell.”</p><p>“You don’t have to do this, Nicky,” Dean said softly.</p><p>“I do,” Nick stated and then continued his tale. “When I was in the Cage, Lucifer would hurt me, torture me, but he didn’t do it openly cruelly. He would be so reasonable, explaining how I’d earned what he did, how it was my fault, and he still spoke gently and used that soft and pleading face. He did that for years before he showed his true colors—and true face.” He fought a shudder that instead presented as a twitch of the head. “By the end of the first century, he had broken me down to nothing millions of times just to start again. He is the worst monster I’ve ever seen and the cleverest. He knows how to play people.” He looked at Jody. “And that’s what he did to you. He wants us to think he was being merciful, he wants us to believe he’s changed, weakened, because that makes <em>us</em> weak. And when he’s ready, when we are vulnerable, he’ll strike.”</p><p>Jody looked at him strangely, it was almost as though she was nervous, but she was also sad, sympathetic.</p><p>When Nick forced himself to take in the other faces in the room, he saw they all looked the same. They were pitying him. Even Castiel, who knew the story already as he shared it, was giving him that same look.</p><p>He cleared his throat roughly and finished, “We’ve got to be on our guard.”</p><p>“We will,” Jody said. “I see what you’re saying now. Set us up with the protections, and we’ll do what we can for ourselves.”</p><p>“What does Lucifer look like?” Alex asked. “If we’re going to be looking out for him, a photo would help.”</p><p>“He’s tall, stupidly long hair,” Nick said. “He looks unassuming despite his height because he has these eyes that … He’s <em>evil</em>.”</p><p>“You can probably find a missing person file on him, Jody,” Dean said. “His name was Sam Smith, and he disappeared around May 14th, 2009.”</p><p>“I’ll get my deputy to look now,” she said, pulling her phone from her pocket as she stood and walked into the kitchen.</p><p>“What does Lucifer want?” Claire asked. “Apart from an apocalypse?”</p><p>“I don’t think he wants that again,” Castiel said, and then, in response to Nick’s incredulous look, went on, “He had a grand plan for the world before, to bring it to its knees, but that was before he reconciled with God. In the time after, he seemed happier to explore life as the last archangel on earth. He lived in powerful people, vessels, a Rockstar and the president, and—”</p><p>“The president!” Patience squeaked.</p><p>“Yeah, Jefferson Rooney,” Dean said.</p><p>“So <em>that’s</em> what happened,” Alex said. “He resigned out of nowhere.”</p><p>“Yeah, we got Lucifer out by…” Dean’s eyes widened. “We got him out!”</p><p>Nick leaped to his feet as he remembered. “Yes! The hyperbolic pulse generator!” His heart raced. “We have a way!”</p><p>Dean nodded eagerly and stood, too, his eyes bright with excitement.</p><p>Jody came back into the living room and looked between them. “Okay, what did I miss?”</p><p>“We’ve got a way to stop him,” Nick said breathlessly. “<em>And</em> Michael. There’s a way to get them out of their vessels and send them back to the Cage.”</p><p>She looked surprised but pleased. “That’s great. How?”</p><p>Nick flexed his fingers nervously, his breaths coming fast. “There’s something we need to find to do it, and we’ll have to get hold of Rowena again. She’s road tripping with a friend, so we….”</p><p>Dean waved a hand. “We’ll get it, Nicky, and we’ll get Rowena. Breathe, man. We’ve got this now.”</p><p>Nick drew a deeper breath and tried to calm himself. It was hard as he was overwhelmed with hope now. They had a way to stop Michael <em>and </em>Lucifer both. They couldn’t kill them without Jack, and that would be the most fitting end for them, but they could send them to the Cage where they would be free to fight each other for eternity, leaving the world safe from them.</p><p>Jody’s phone beeped, and she pressed a button and then held it up, displaying a photograph above details of a missing person. “This our guy?”</p><p>Nick peered at it, seeing the hated face, and nodded. “That’s Lucifer.”</p><p>Jody passed the phone to Claire, who examined the picture and showed it to Alex and Patience.</p><p>Nick ran a hand through his short hair. “I’m going to start with the house sigils. Cas, want to do the ribs?”</p><p>Jody frowned. “Do what to the ribs?”</p><p>Dean huffed a laugh. “Not dinner. Cas is going to carve some Enochian sigils into <em>your </em>ribs.” He held up a finger. “I warn you though, it’s going to hurt.”</p><p>“Great,” Alex said quietly. </p><p>“It’s only for a moment,” Castiel said. “I will be as quick as I can. And it will protect you.”</p><p>Nick headed out to the car for the paint, feeling a flurry of excitement in his stomach. They had a plan now. Lucifer would be shoved back into his Cage, and this time there would be no Crowley to redirect him.</p><p>Lucifer was going back to Hell. </p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Violet chanced a nervous glance at Sam and licked her lips. “Okay… Lucifer, what do you want me to teach you?”</p><p>Sam stared at her fear-filled face for a moment and felt a wave of frustration. “I’m not going to hurt you, Violet.”</p><p>She bit her lip. “I want to believe that, but all evidence points to the contrary.”</p><p>“Would Billie have brought you here just to die?”</p><p>“She’s Death.” The neutral tone she used when she said it was more of an answer than her words.</p><p>Billie was Death now, and she wasn’t going to sweat the life of one reaper.</p><p>Sam didn’t think he could persuade Violet with words that she was safe, so he would have to rely on actions. “Assume I know nothing,” he said. “Start with flying.”</p><p>“You can’t even fly?” She flinched as the incredulous question left her.</p><p>Sam tried to look unthreatening, even as he processed his pain at her reaction, and said, “I can, I’ve done it, but it was an automatic reaction; it just happened. I need to know how to control it. So… teach me.”</p><p>She nodded. “Yeah, okay. Uh… You can sense your wings, yes?”</p><p>Sam concentrated on the weight at his back and spread them so that the tips reached the walls of the room and passed through them. He understood they were more of a metaphysical thing that purely physical, but it felt strange. He could feel the plank board walls against them, but there was no pain.</p><p>“I can sense them,” he said.</p><p>“Concentrate on them and where you would like to go,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how far as I will be able to follow you. Just pick a place and let your instincts take over.”</p><p>Sam considered for a moment and decided that he didn’t need to use this first trip to go big. He should stay somewhere private instead of arriving in the middle of a crowd of people who would freak out when they saw a man appear out of nowhere.</p><p>He fixed the small lake in the forest behind the cabin in his mind and willed himself to go. He felt his wings ripple and move, and then he was standing at the edge of the lake with the water lapping at his shoes. He stepped back from the water and looked around for Violet who appeared beside him.</p><p>“There, you did it,” she said. “Does that help? Do you remember anything else?”</p><p>Sam guessed she was hoping the simple action of flight would trigger some other memories so she could call her job done and get away from him, but all he felt was impressed that he’d done it. Also, strangely free.</p><p>It was the same feeling he’d had when he’d gotten on to a bus that would take him to California the day he’d left for Stanford. It was a good feeling, but also confusing. His situation was dire, he’d lost everything and everyone he loved in life, but he had a new kind of freedom of movement.</p><p>“No,” he said, and her face fell. “But I think I can do that again.”</p><p>He concentrated on the cabin again, and a moment later, his feet hit the dusty floorboards inside. </p><p>Violet appeared beside him and said, “You can reach any distance and go any place you want that isn’t warded.”</p><p>“Great. What else? What about healing?”</p><p>She frowned. “You want to heal people? You?”</p><p>“Yes. I’ve done that once, too, but it was automatic, like flying. And I’d like to heal myself if I can. My grace is drained, and it’s not healing me on its own.”</p><p>“Oh. Then you need to see the wound and concentrate your grace on it.”</p><p>Sam unbuttoned his shirt and exposed the wound on his chest, still sore after Billie had removed the bullets. He wasn’t sure how she’d managed it, but he was impressed. He looked at the two puckered wounds, admiring the bullet placement with a critical eye—Jody and Frank were evidently crack shots. He brought a hand up to it and willed it to work. No light shone, and there was no sensation of skin and flesh knitting together the way there always was when Castiel healed him.</p><p>“It’s not working,” he said bitterly.</p><p>“You need to find your grace.”</p><p>“Then tell me how!” Sam snapped, anger that he hadn’t been aware of building up in him. He took two deep breaths and avoided her terrified gaze as he said, “I can’t sense it.”</p><p>He saw her flinch out of the corner of his eye as she said, “It’s running through you like blood. If you concentrate on it, you’ll feel it. It’s warmth, love. It’s what God gave you.”</p><p>Sam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it is.”</p><p>Taking another breath, he drew his attention inwards and felt for some sense of warmth. He thought there was something, the same kind of heat you felt cupping a coffee in your hands through a thick mug. It wasn’t anywhere near as potent as demon blood had felt, that incredible power, or the way he’d felt when he’d taken Jack’s grace in. It was there, though, and he thought he could do it. He concentrated on the warmth and held his hand over his wound again. This time, light glowed and he felt the twinge of healing. When he moved his hand, he saw the skin was clear again.</p><p>“Huh, it worked.”</p><p>She nodded eagerly. “Yes. And it should feel the same way if you were to heal someone else.” She hesitated a moment and then seemed to force her next words out. “Why would you heal someone else?”</p><p>Sam considered a moment, wondering if it was worth trying to tell her the truth. Billie said God had done a good job of changing the memories and that Dean would never be convinced, but perhaps Violet would. Was there any danger in trying? He couldn’t see any.</p><p>“I’m not really Lucifer,” he said. “My real name is Sam Winchester. I’m Dean Winchester’s brother, Mary and John Winchester’s son.”</p><p>She looked startled and disbelieving, though she quickly tried to hide it under a mask of calm. “Okay.”</p><p>“No, really, I am. I pissed God off, and he got his revenge by switching my place with the real Lucifer.”</p><p>“So Nick Winchester is the devil?” she asked.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>She stared at him for a moment and then said, “Please don’t smite me for saying it, but that doesn’t make sense. I can see your true face. You <em>are</em> Lucifer. Every divine being knows your identity.”</p><p>Sam snorted. “Yeah, because there’s no way God could change that?”</p><p>“Why would he? God is good.”</p><p>Sam raised an eyebrow. “He sat through a couple of apocalypses before coming to help, but you call him good?”</p><p>A steely look of determination came into her eyes, a startling contrast to what she’d shown so far, and she said, “Yes. He had reasons for leaving the world to continue on its path. I was there from almost the point of creation. As long as there have been humans, there have been reapers to help them move on. I saw the greatest things he did. I have been touched by the divine because I <em>am </em>divine. I’m not so different from an angel.”</p><p>“So, you drank the Kool-Aid, too.” Sam raked his hands through his hair. “Fine. It was a longshot anyway. I’m not lying though. I was human until yesterday, and <em>Nick </em>was the devil.”</p><p>“Nick Winchester is a good man. I have seen what he’s capable of.”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” Sam said wearily. “He’s perfect.”</p><p>“He’s not perfect, but he has done great things. He and Dean disrupt the natural order all the time, and that upsets some of my kind, but I see the value in both of them and have no desire to see them dead. I think the world would be a worse place without them.”</p><p>Gabriel came to life in his mind.<em> Really, Sam? You and I both know it’s not Nick that did all those things with Dean. It was you. You’re giving up that easy?</em></p><p>Goaded by Gabriel’s voice, Sam snapped, “What about the Darkness? Didn’t Nick set her free.”</p><p>“He did, but he did it for his brother.”</p><p>Sam rolled his eyes. “Sure, Billie sets me up with the only reaper in the world that excuses all that crap. Where were you when a few years ago <em>I </em>was Sam and Billie was threatening to dump me in The Empty?”</p><p>“I was serving souls.”</p><p>“Awesome. I could have done with your help.”</p><p>She frowned. “What would you have wanted from me, Lucifer?”</p><p>Sam glowered, and his hands fisted.</p><p>She clearly noted the movement as she winced and quickly said, “What else do you want to know?” pressing her hands to her chest as if defending herself.</p><p>Sam pushed down his anger and said, “I want to know everything. Uh… invisibility? That’s an angel thing, right? Cas was spying on us one time—probably more than one time—and that could be helpful.”</p><p>“Yes, you can do that. It takes concentration, but you’re an archangel<em>,</em> so it shouldn’t be a challenge. You have to will yourself to go unseen. We’ll need people to test you though.”</p><p>“Fine. Let’s go,” Sam said.</p><p>“You lead, I’ll follow.”</p><p>Sam spread his wings and concentrated on a suitably crowded place where he would be closely observed. He huffed a laugh as he realized where to go. Few places in America got as crowded as Vegas on a daily basis, and he figured the security there would be tight enough for him to be noticed to test himself.</p><p>He felt his feet leave the floor, but this time it was a little different. He took time before landing, focusing on finding the right place where he could arrive unobserved but be seen when he was ready.  </p><p>He set himself down in an isolated corner of Caesars Palace’s casino and looked to the side as Violet appeared beside him.</p><p>“You’re going to very visible here,” she said.</p><p>“That’s the idea,” Sam said. “I need to be seen. Tell me how to do this.”</p><p>“You need to will yourself—”</p><p>Sam cut her off impatiently. “Yeah, I got that part, but how do I do <em>that</em>?”</p><p>She considered a moment, stepping to the side as a woman with her purse clutched close to her chest marched past them. “Concentrate on something you’ve always wanted. Choose a place in your life that you have been desperate for something, when you have <em>willed</em> it to be, and try to find that feeling again.”</p><p>There were many times in Sam’s life when he’d been desperate, and many times he’d tried to will his wishes into fruition, but it had never worked.</p><p>No, that wasn’t right, he’d once willed things into being. It was a dark part of his past, though, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to let his mind go there.</p><p>“You have something?” she asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Sam said tonelessly. “I’m not sure I want to use it though.”</p><p>She looked puzzled, and Sam wondered if she was searching for a place in Lucifer’s life that he would be unwilling to revisit. She was probably thinking of the Cage or the battle with Michael that had sent him there. Lucifer would have wanted to save himself then.</p><p>He needed to tap into a moment he’d been strong, powerful, when he’d been exorcising demons, and that was going to hurt. His mind went to those blood-fueled days under Ruby’s tutelage, and he felt for the rush of determination he’d felt then. It came slowly, and he held it in the back of his mind for a moment as he walked towards the closest guard at the cash desk with his gun across his chest, perfectly positioned to bring up at any moment. Another man was exchanging a black case that Sam guessed was full of takings about to be transferred to the vault. They were alert enough for Sam to work his plan.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Violet asked.</p><p>“Being noticed,” Sam muttered as he marched forward.</p><p>The guard’s eyes snapped to him, and a hint of suspicion crossed his face. “Sir, you need to step back.”</p><p>Sam walked closer, feeling a rush that was almost like adrenaline. He wanted to be seen, to be noticed by all, so he could test his theory. He was excited by the possibility.</p><p>As he walked forward, the guard brought up his gun and said, “Sir, I need you to move back now.”</p><p>People around them began to take notice. They shot nervous glances between Sam and the guard and then began to hurry away.</p><p>The guard spread his stance and started to speak, but at the same moment, something dropped into Sam’s hand. He looked down and saw the long blade gripped in his hand. He stared at it, wondering how he’d done it again, just like before with Jody, but his considering lasted a split second before there was the crack of a gunshot, and something punched him in the chest over his heart.</p><p>This time hurt so much more than the bullets had before, and he knew why. This was a high-powered assault weapon, and the force behind it was so much stronger. He felt bones shatter and the explosion of the fragments inside. He couldn’t draw a breath; he wasn’t even sure he had lungs left to take the air.</p><p>The impact had been huge. Blood blossomed and poured from his wound, both at the front of his chest and on his back. The sheer power of the gun had caused a through and through.</p><p>He saw and felt it all in a split second as fight or flight instincts warred in him, and then he felt the strange weightlessness that he usually felt before falling unconscious—though his mind stayed alert—and then the guard was shouting, “Where did he go?”</p><p>Sam looked around. The place was in chaos; people were running and screaming, and more guards were rushing towards him, but none of them seemed to be able to see him.</p><p>“Well, that’s invisibility taken care of,” Violet said. “We should get out of here.”</p><p>Sam spread his wings at his back, and a moment later was in the cabin again, his chest and back pulsing with pain.  </p><p>He tore off his ruined shirt and looked down at the wound on his chest. The hole was smaller than he’d expected from the pain, but he felt, from the raw edges on his back that were strangely clear to him, that the exit wound was much bigger.</p><p>“You should heal that,” Violet said, her tone calm despite the fear in her face.</p><p>Sam held his hand over the wound and felt the pull of healing. It was so much more intense than before as it was bone, flesh, organ, and tissue repairing. It took longer, too. He was wavering on his feet before the skin had knitted closed on both his chest and back.</p><p>He staggered forward and flopped onto the couch, the blood on his shirt and skin feeling intense and disturbing. For a moment, he just closed his eyes and breathed into his newly repaired lungs, and then he looked at Violet and said, “Healing and invisibility are a go. What else can you teach me?”</p><p>“I think…” She swallowed hard. “You should rest, Lucifer.”</p><p>“My name’s not Lucifer!”</p><p>She flinched. “I’m sorry. <em>Sam</em>, I think you should rest. I can see how much more depleted your grace is now, and it wasn’t strong to begin with. You can call me back when you’re ready. I will hear you.”</p><p>Sam frowned. “You hear prayer?”</p><p>“No, I hear angel radio,” she stated. “I’m divine.”</p><p>“I don’t hear angel radio,” Sam said.</p><p>She looked confused. “You should. Perhaps you’re blocking it out. Concentrate on opening your mind.”</p><p>“You know what, I think I’ll get to that next time,” Sam said, knowing it was something he needed to learn but not wanting to pressure himself now while he felt weakened and sensitive to her close presence. “I am going to rest awhile, but you can wait here.”</p><p>She looked upset, and Sam guessed she’d been looking forward to some distance from ‘Lucifer’, but he wasn’t going to make this easy for her. He’d just been shot—again—and he was drained.</p><p>“Wait outside if it makes you more comfortable,” he said. “I’m going to sleep.”</p><p>Her eyes widened with incredulity. “You’ll sleep?”</p><p>“Yes,” Sam said defiantly. “Lucifer might not sleep, but Sam Winchester does.”</p><p>He moved to the middle of the couch and lay down, his head pillowed on the arm of the couch and his legs curled up tight to fit.</p><p>He closed his eyes and felt lethargy coming as the door opened and closed. Then footsteps crossed the porch and down the stairs then moved onto the dirt.</p><p>He was asleep again within minutes.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they got back to the bunker from Jody’s, their arms laden with Tupperware boxes of leftovers that Jody had sent back for them all, Dean kicked the door to knock and then chanced a glance at Nick while they waited for it to be answered. He seemed okay, calmer now than he had been when telling his story at Jody’s, but Dean was still watchful.</p><p>Castiel stood at their backs, his arms free as he was concentrating on things outside of their surroundings—still trying to reach Naomi on angel radio.</p><p>The door was opened by Mary, whose smile was a little strained and her relief to see them obvious in her eyes.</p><p>“How did it go?” she asked.</p><p>“It’s all taken care of,” Dean said, edging around her and walking down the stairs into the war room and setting their boxes down on the table. “How are things here?”</p><p>“Uh, actually, there’s something we need to show you,” Mary said warily.</p><p>Nick’s eyes narrowed. “What’s going on?”</p><p>Mary walked into the library where Jack was sitting at a table with a laptop open in front of him and a video playing. It was too small for Dean to see the picture, but he heard a news anchor on the quiet speakers, discussing an ‘unexplained event’ in Vegas</p><p>“Case?” Nick asked.</p><p>“No. Lucifer,” Jack said.</p><p>Nick hurried to look over Jack’s shoulder, and Jack enlarged the video window and pressed play. A news anchor sitting behind a desk, her hair a neat bob and her makeup immaculate, was speaking. Dean stood behind Jack’s other shoulder and listened to the commentary.</p><p>
  <em>“There was an aborted attack in Caesar’s Palace at noon today. A man was seen acting suspiciously and was being confronted by a guard when he drew a weapon—a long sword of some kind. The guard opened fire, causing panic within the casino, but, unexplainably, the suspect vanished. The footage we have received from security tapes within the casino shows the event as it unfolded.”</em>
</p><p>A new video filled the screen, the view of a busy casino cash desk with an armed guard standing with his gun held in front of him. It wasn’t an unusual sight in present-day America, especially in a place with enhanced security like a casino, but what was striking was the man walking towards the guard with a strange smile on his face and a long sword in his hand. It was…</p><p>“Lucifer!” Nick gasped.</p><p>“Keep watching,” Mary advised.</p><p>Dean focused his attention on the video, seeing Lucifer walking forward and the guard taking a spread stance and raising his gun. Dean saw the jolt of his arms as he pulled the trigger.</p><p>There was no sound on the video, it was black and white security footage from a CCTV camera, but Dean didn’t need to hear it. Blood blossomed on Lucifer’s shirt, then he paused and seemed to consider a moment before he vanished. On the video, the guard’s head swiveled as he looked around, his gun raised, and chaos reigned around him as people fled the scene. The video cut off as the other armed guards reached him.</p><p>“What the hell was he doing?” Dean asked, an automatic question that he expected no informed answer to.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Mary said. “It’s running on all channels. People are calling it a hoax, a conspiracy to increase security in public areas in an attempt to impinge on our rights, but a couple of stations are taking it seriously.”</p><p>“What do you think, Nicky?” Dean asked.</p><p>Nick was frowning at the screen, his brows low over his eyes. He leaned over Jack and tapped at the mousepad, rewinding the video. “Watch,” he said. “Look just behind Lucifer.”</p><p>Dean obeyed, watching the video play out, and noticed what Nick had seen at once. A moment after Lucifer had disappeared, a woman standing a couple of paces behind him did, too.</p><p>“Another angel?” Dean asked.</p><p>“It can’t be?” Mary asked. “The angels all lost their wings. They couldn’t fly away.”</p><p>“All except the two that weren’t here for the fall,” Dean said. “Lucifer was in the Cage, and Michael was in his own world.”</p><p>Mary clapped her hand to her chest. “You think they’re working together?”</p><p>Nick ran a hand through his short hair roughly and squeezed his eyes closed as he cursed.</p><p>“They worked together to open a rift in the other world,” Jack said. “Michael said they had a deal, remember. They could have made another one.”</p><p>“So, we don’t just have two archangels to deal with separately—we have two archangels working together,” Nick growled.</p><p>“Rewind it again,” Castiel said, peering at the screen.</p><p>Nick rewound it and paused it just before the woman disappeared. Dean watched Castiel for a reaction, seeing his pinched brow and tight lips.</p><p>Castiel concentrated for a moment and then said, “That is not an angel; she’s a reaper. Her name is Violet. I met her centuries ago. She was a good and loyal person, dedicated to her task.”</p><p>“That could have changed,” Mary said.</p><p>Dean pressed his fingertips to his temples where he could feel a tension headache forming. “Tess changed. She was driven crazy by the screams in the veil, crazy enough to kill herself. If this Violet is going through the same thing, she could have cracked, too. Maybe she sees Lucifer as a good leader to follow now. He might have been making big promises about reopening Heaven. That’s what he did before to get the angels on his side, Jo told us.”</p><p>“Is that something he could do, Cas?” Nick asked.  </p><p>“Make promises?” Castiel scoffed. “Definitely. Whether he would have the power to reopen Heaven or not, I don’t know. The spell was supposed to be irreversible, but he is an archangel with even more power than before with the grace he stole from Jack.”</p><p>Dean saw Nick was glowering at the screen of the laptop with a fearful look in his eyes. Dean recognized the look as it was the one he always wore when faced with Lucifer.</p><p>He quickly snapped the laptop shut and said, “Okay. He’s got a reaper working with him.”</p><p>“Or he’s got Michael with him using a reaper as a vessel,” Castiel said apologetically. “A reaper doesn’t have a vessel the way an angel does. Though we are both divine, reapers can be possessed.”</p><p>“Like Azazel did Tess,” Dean said, his mind passing back over the years to the awful day he saw his father die. “They can do that?”</p><p>Castiel nodded. “Reapers don’t possess a human body. They create the vessel themselves. That’s how they’re able to move among people to guide them. It’s more than an illusion. Their true selves are incorporeal.”</p><p>“Yeah, I remember,” Dean said.</p><p>“So, our options are Lucifer with divine backup, or Lucifer teamed with Michael,” Mary said. “At least we have an idea of what this could be now.”</p><p>“How does that help?” Nick asked tersely.</p><p>“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But it’s something at least.”</p><p>Nick pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, Michael might have a vessel.” He glanced at Dean. “He’s not looking for another. That’s something.”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Dean said bitterly. “Only now, like you said, we’ve got two active archangels to deal with that might have teamed up. I don’t know about you, but I was much happier when Michael was just grace on the air.”</p><p>“He won’t want you now, though,” Nick said. Though he’d been trying to be reassuring before, it was clear he’d still seen the danger. He looked at Castiel. “We need to know which it is. Have you heard anything from Naomi yet? Would she know?”</p><p>“She might,” Castiel said. “She has ways and means that we don’t, and she is in Heaven so closer to the omniscient ability of the place. But she’s not answering me.”</p><p>“Then go to Heaven,” Nick said.</p><p>“Naomi closed the gate, Nick,” Castiel pointed out.</p><p>“Then stand outside and bang on it!” Nick suggested with a bite of anger. Dean could tell his strategic mind was now focusing on the threat of Michael and Lucifer instead of the fact Dean wasn’t needed as a vessel. That kind of focus came with anger in Nick.</p><p>Dean put a hand on his chest and pushed him back a step. “Take it down a notch, man. None of this is Cas’ fault. Or any of our fault. Cas, is there any way you can be… I don’t know… louder?  Find a way to get her attention maybe?”</p><p>“Perhaps,” Castiel said. “I can go to the point the gate was located and try to reach her there.”</p><p>“Do that,” Nick said, turning away from Castiel in clear dismissal.</p><p>Castiel stared at him a moment, seeming to want to say something, and then he turned and walked away. Dean heard his footsteps on the stairs and then the creak of the door opening and closing.</p><p>“Okay then,” Dean said. “We’ve got Cas searching up Naomi, so there’s nothing else we can do until we hear back from him. I say we get the ribs heated and eat.”</p><p>Nick looked incredulous. “You want to eat?”</p><p>Dean sighed and fought down the urge to snap at him as he answered. “What else are we supposed to do, Nicky? We can’t go after Lucifer <em>or</em> Michael without a weapon that will work. We need to find another magic egg to get Lucifer out and back in the Cage, and to dump Michael in with him.” He considered. “We’re actually going to need two since the last one was fried getting Lucifer out of the president, so they’re not reusable. We don’t have one here in the bunker, so we need someone to help us find them. Which means Ketch.”</p><p>Mary sighed but didn’t speak.</p><p>Dean knew Ketch had shown himself as slightly reformed in the Apocalypse World she’d been trapped in, but he figured the wounds the cold-hearted bastard had caused his mother went deep, and she wasn’t going to be happy to see him again.</p><p>“I’ll make the call,” Nick said. “Get him on it.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and marched out of the room, his shoulders set with anger.</p><p>Dean watched him go and then breathed a sigh of relief. He felt guilty for it, but when Nick got like this, he preferred him to be elsewhere.</p><p>“He’s angry,” Jack stated.</p><p>“We’re all angry,” Mary said.</p><p>“Yes, but Nick is…” Jack shrugged. “He’s different.”</p><p>Dean understood what he meant. Jack hadn’t seen Nick like this before.</p><p>When Jack had been born, Nick and him had bonded as Nick tried to help Jack control his powers so he could get Mary back. Then he’d been openly grateful and happy when Jack came back with a way to open a rift. Jack had been trapped in that other world for months, and the next time he saw Nick, it was colored with the relief of seeing him alive after hearing he’d died at the hands of the vampires in that tunnel. Nick and Dean had worked out a way for Jack and the rest of the people there to be brought to this world, and Jack’s view of him as a kind and supportive person had been enhanced.</p><p>What he’d missed in that other world was Nick’s concealed fear when facing Lucifer as he’d been caught up in his own moment of bonding with his father. But now Nick wasn’t showing a side of himself Jack was familiar with—he was afraid and angry.</p><p>“He’s scared,” Mary said softly, and Dean nodded.</p><p>“We’re all scared,” Jack said. “But you are both the same.”</p><p>“Nick’s scared of Lucifer,” Dean explained. “The fact he’s back is bad enough, but he’s also powered up and obviously working some kind of plan. It’s no coincidence that he chose a public place to get himself shot. He knew that would make the news, and we’d probably see it. He even let the wound happen. I’ve seen Cas bleed, a lot, but I’ve also seen him take a shotgun to the chest and show nothing. Lucifer allowed that wound so we’d see it.”</p><p>“So, you think he allowed himself to be injured for us?” Jack asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Dean said. “And he showed mercy to the guard that shot him, even though he had his blade ready. Nick was right all along. This is some kind of game. He’s trying to catch us off guard. Add to that the fact he’s super-powered with your grace and maybe teamed up with Michael, the odds are against us, and Nick doesn’t handle threats well when they’re not just to him.”</p><p>“But they are to him,” Jack pointed out.</p><p>“They are,” Mary agreed. “But they’re also to all of us. That’s what Dean means. Nick is a protector, like Dean. He’s facing a threat that he can’t take out alone. We all are. We can handle that by working as a team and defending each other, but Nick only sees what he can’t do instead of what he can.”</p><p>Jack frowned. “That’s stupid.”</p><p>“If you’d seen Nick’s life, you’d get it,” Dean said.</p><p>“I didn’t, though,” Jack said, a trace of bitterness in his voice.</p><p>“Neither did I,” Mary said softly. “I missed almost everything. There’s so much I don’t know about my sons. But I do know they’ve been through so much that has hurt them, and I know what that does to them. I know they’re heroes, too.”</p><p>Dean smiled slightly. “Thanks, Mom.”</p><p>She touched his arm. “I wish I did know it all.”</p><p>Dean sighed. “I could tell you it all, but it would hurt you. And Nick’s story isn’t all mine to tell. A lot of it is his alone.”</p><p>“You told me some,” Mary reminded him. “You told me what happened because of my deal.”</p><p>Dean fixed his eyes on the floor to avoid her gaze. He had told her some of it, more than Nick would probably want her to know, but that had been a desperate attempt to reach her and also a venting of his pain—the pain her choices had caused.</p><p>He drew a breath, then raised his eyes and said with forced brightness, “Who’s hungry? I’ll fix the ribs.”</p><p>Without waiting for a reply, he retrieved the boxes and balanced them in his arms, and he walked to the kitchen.</p><p>He knew his mother was disappointed that he wasn’t sharing, but even if it was just his story to tell, he wouldn’t want to. Too much had happened, and too many bad choices had been made. He wasn’t going to open them both to her disappointment.</p><p>She saw them as heroes, and Dean wanted to hang onto that.</p><p>If she knew it all, everything would change.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam flexed his wings and looked from side to side to examine them. Their shape was more defined now; he could see outlines that looked like feathers in the shape of them. As his grace replenished, his ability to see them grew. He thought he would be able to see them clearly when it was fully charged again, and he wondered what they would look like to archangel eyes.</p><p>“You’re growing stronger,” Violet observed.</p><p>“I am,” Sam agreed. “That’s good. I am going to need strength.”</p><p>She bit her lip. “What are you going to do with your strength?”</p><p>Sam eyed her nervous face and smiled slightly. “Are you asking if I plan to start another apocalypse? I’m not. I just plan to settle a score and then… I don’t know what I’ll do after.” He drew his wings in at his back and sat down on the couch. “Violet, do the souls still scream in the veil?”</p><p>She looked startled by the question. “Not all of them, the newer ones are quiet, but that doesn’t last long. There are always more joining them. Why?”</p><p>Sam shrugged. “Just curious.”</p><p>“So… do you still need me?” she asked hesitantly.</p><p>Sam looked at her, seeing the poorly concealed hope in her eyes, and felt a wave of pity. She’d been with him for two weeks now, teaching him everything that he was apparently capable of. He thought he had a handle on it all now, and he was stronger than he’d been after he’d last parted from Chuck, but he was unwilling to let her go. He’d be alone again, and he’d enjoyed having company.</p><p>Ultimately, he could think of no good reason, apart from selfishness, to keep her around, so he nodded and said, “You can go, but listen for me if I call. And if you hear anything about Michael, find me at once.”</p><p>Violet nodded eagerly and disappeared.</p><p>Sam sighed and looked around the cabin. He didn’t know what to do next, and he was already feeling lonely. He wanted someone with him, someone that saw the real Sam, not Lucifer. There was no one that could though. Chuck had done too good a job, leaving only Billie knowing the truth, and Sam didn’t think she’d be open to visiting him.</p><p>Sam ran a hand through his hair and looked around. The cabin had once been a kind of haven to him and Dean. Not the way the bunker was or Bobby’s house, but they’d been here together, shared meals here. They’d laughed here, lived here, they’d grieved Bobby here.</p><p>Sam felt a wave of longing. He would give anything to have Bobby with him now. He would know what to do. He could help. But Bobby in Heaven, and Sam was here.</p><p>Though did he have to be?</p><p>An idea kindling, Sam stood then spread his wings and let his instincts guide him to Midwest America, where a generic playground with an important sandbox resided.</p><p>The first thing he saw when he arrived was Castiel. He didn’t seem to notice Sam’s arrival. He was distracted, sitting on a bench with his shoulders slumped and his head hanging as he muttered to the air, the words having the air of being spoken many times before.</p><p>“Naomi, please. I need to speak to you. The world is in terrible danger and I need your help.” Castiel looked up at the sandbox and then bowed his head again. “Naomi, please…”</p><p>“What help do you think you’re going to get, Cas?” Sam asked.</p><p>Castiel jumped to his feet, his blade dropping into his hand and his face aghast. “Lucifer.”</p><p>Sam ignored the painful reaction and asked, “What help do you think you’ll get?” He frowned. “Are you looking for a way to stop Michael or me?”</p><p>Gabriel roused in his mind. <em>Why are you even asking, Sam?</em></p><p>Castiel swallowed hard and licked his lips. “Michael.”</p><p>Sam raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’re going to kill Michael but leave me alone.”</p><p>“Michael is the most dangerous.”</p><p>Sam could tell he didn’t really believe it. Castiel had proven himself to be a skilled liar in the past, but he was scared now and that was sapping his ability to deceive. They were looking for a way to kill them both.</p><p>Sam wasn’t scared for himself as Dean was the one that posed a threat to him, and as far as Sam knew, he had no weapon that would work. The archangel blade could only be wielded by an archangel. Dean was just human. The only other weapons were the blades he and Michael wielded, and Dean couldn’t get them.</p><p>However his foretold death came about, it wasn’t coming yet. What mattered more was that Sam stop them putting themselves in the line of fire.</p><p>If they went after Michael, if Dean did, he would be at risk. Michael would either use him as a vessel or kill him. Neither was an outcome Sam could bear.</p><p>Sam fixed his eyes on Castiel. “You’re going to stop.”</p><p>“Stop what?”</p><p>“Hunting Michael. You can spend as much time coming for me as you like, but Michael is mine. I am going to be the one to end him. All you’re doing going after Michael is putting yourselves in danger.”</p><p>Castiel seemed to gird himself. “Why would you care?”</p><p>For a moment, Sam considered telling Castiel the truth, to make him understand, but he didn’t want to deal with disbelief. It wouldn’t work anyway. Castiel would never believe, and Sam would be left with nothing but disappointment and perhaps Castiel’s hateful words.</p><p>Sam wasn’t weak by any means, but hearing his friend, practically a brother, spewing hatred at him wasn’t something he wanted to expose himself to.</p><p>“Just keep away from Michael,” he said. “If Dean gives consent, even if he makes a deal, Michael will never let him go.”</p><p>“Dean would never give consent,” Castiel said.</p><p>“He would if… his brother was in danger. If Michael threatened <em>him</em>, Dean would do anything Michael wanted.”</p><p>Sam couldn’t bring himself to use Nick’s name in the same sentence as brother. Nick wasn’t Dean’s brother, no matter how different he was now he had a second chance. Sam was Dean’s family. Nick was just a cruel trick played by Chuck.</p><p>Castiel seemed to consider his words. “You might be right, but I still don’t understand why you care.”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter why, it only matters that I do. The best thing you can do to stop Michael is keep Nick safe and Dean away from him.”</p><p>Castiel looked wary, almost afraid, and Sam decided he’d spent enough time with him. He raised his voice and spoke to the air. “Naomi, open the gate!”</p><p>Castiel’s eyes moved from him to the sandbox as light began to spill from it and move upwards. Sam stepped towards it and then stopped as he saw Castiel poised to jump into it.</p><p>“You’re not coming,” Sam growled. “You don’t need more information than you already have since you’re <em>standing down.</em>”</p><p>Castiel hesitated a moment then seemed to decide his need was greater than his fear. He jumped toward the light and Sam waved a hand, sending Castiel flying back to collide with the climbing frame.</p><p>Sam glanced at him, seeing Castiel’s distress, and then stepped into the light. There was a feeling of warmth and something indefinable that Sam could only connect to the feeling of riding in the Impala beside Dean, and then he was standing in a long white hall with doors bearing names and dates on it.</p><p>“I don’t remember this,” he muttered.</p><p>The Heaven he’d seen had been memories and familiar places. This seemed to be the place only angels could access, each door leading into a personal heaven.</p><p>He set off walking and came to a junction that made him stop and consider. He needed another angel, not a stroll through endless heavens. He wanted to find Bobby and the names on these doors were all variations of Sarah Clarke.  </p><p>“Little help here,” he called.</p><p>There were footsteps and he looked right to see an angel he recognized walking towards him.</p><p>It was Naomi, and she looked tense but not angry as she came to a stop in front of him and said, “Lucifer. How can I help you?”</p><p>“I want to see Bobby Singer.”</p><p>She frowned. “Mr. Singer? Why?”</p><p>“That’s not important. Just take me to him.”</p><p>She stared at him for a moment and then said, “I will, of course, but there is something I would like to discuss with you while you’re here. There has been a development since you… left us.”</p><p>“I had things to do,” Sam said dismissively, walking toward her. “What’s this development.”</p><p>“We think we have a way to save Heaven.”</p><p>As if to punctuate her words, the lights dipped and rose again. Castiel had told them this was happening when he was here, a sign that the power was fading, and Sam felt a prickle of unease at the proof.</p><p>He came to a stop and looked at her. “How can you save it?”</p><p>“There is a spell, well, more of a theory really. It requires the power of an archangel and the power of the souls. If we can harness the power of one soul, it can sustain its own heaven. If there were more, it could sustain the whole of Heaven.”</p><p>“What happens to the soul while they’re being used as nuclear reactors?” he asked.</p><p>“Nothing. They will continue on in their heavens as before. The problem is, we need more. If we can open the gates, the souls that would flood in would be more than enough.”</p><p>“The power of an archangel,” he mused. “You want my grace?”</p><p>He couldn’t give that up as he needed to be strong to kill Michael.</p><p>“No, just your power to perform the spell.”</p><p>Sam sorted through the information, searching for a lie or flaw. He didn’t trust Naomi, or any angel apart from Castiel really, but this was a big thing. If he could save heaven, open it again, all the people they’d lost would have peace. The Veil would empty of all the waiting souls that could be saved, those that weren’t too far gone, the tethered vengeful sprits.</p><p>“Okay,” he said. “I’ll do it. Set up whatever you need and I’ll do whatever you need.”</p><p>She looked startled but pleased and said, “I’ll do it now.”</p><p>“No, you won’t,” Sam corrected. “You’ll take me to Bobby first. Once I’ve seen him, I’ll do what you need. Take me to his heaven.”</p><p>“Bobby Singer isn’t in his own heaven at the moment.”</p><p>“He’s heaven hopping?” Sam chuckled. “Damn, Ash, you’re good.”</p><p>“No,” Naomi said calmly. “He’s imprisoned.”</p><p>Sam’s heart jolted and fury flooded him. “He’s <em>what</em>?”</p><p>She looked confused, clearly wondering why he cared.</p><p>He grabbed the collar of her jacket and lifted her so they were almost nose to nose. “What did you do to him?”</p><p>“He created chaos,” she said, her voice constricted with fear. “He was working with Castiel and Nick Winchester. He disturbed other souls. Angels were hurt.”</p><p>Sam couldn’t understand why he’d not thought of this before, why Castiel hadn’t known. Bobby had said in his letter that he expected some price for what he’d done, but Sam had never imagined he’d be locked away for it.</p><p>Sam shoved Naomi away from him, throwing her into the wall where she slid into a crumpled heap and raised her hands.</p><p>“It’s Heaven’s law, Lucifer.”</p><p>Sam spoke through gritted teeth. “Take me to him. Now!”</p><p>She got to her feet and drew a breath, seeming to be summoning courage as she smoothed her jacket and then started off along the hall, coming to a door at the end and pushing it open. Sam followed her through it, close on her heels, to another hall, though this one had doors without names.</p><p>“The Axis Mundi?” he guessed.</p><p>“Of course,” she said, looking puzzled. “It’s not far.”</p><p>They walked in silence, Sam’s anger still bubbling under the surface, to a door that Naomi opened and gestured him through. Sam didn’t hesitate, eager to get to Bobby, and found himself in a room with stone walls and barred cells to the right. There was a pile of rubble and twisted metal at the end that Sam assumed was the cell Gadreel had blasted apart when he’d died to free Castiel.</p><p>In the first cell was a familiar figure. Bobby sat on a carved stone bench, the peak of his hat casting shadow over his face.</p><p>He glowered as he fixed his eyes on Sam. “Lucifer,” he snarled. “What do you want, you son of a bitch?”</p><p>Sam’s breath caught and he felt a wave of sadness and love for his surrogate father that made its home in his voice. “Bobby…”</p><p>Bobby leaped to his feet and marched towards the bars and gripped them. “You can cut that crap. Whatever game this is, I’m not buying into it. I know what you are.”</p><p>“I’m not who you think,” Sam said, his heart aching with sadness.</p><p>Bobby snorted. “Sure, and you didn’t spout crap like that at Nick when you were trying to get the big yes either. You didn’t try to fool him.” His voice rose to a shout. “You didn’t torture him for nearly two centuries because of it! You hurt my boy, you bastard! I don’t care what you come at me with now, I’ll take it because he did.”</p><p>“I’m not going to hurt you, Bobby,” Sam said quietly.</p><p>He had come with the intent of seeing his friend, maybe trying to make him see the truth, but there was no point. He couldn’t do it. He could maybe have borne the hatred and disbelief in Castiel, but he couldn’t bear it from Bobby.</p><p>He turned away and said, “Take him back to his heaven. Tell me what I need to do.”</p><p>He heard a murmur of her voice in his head, calling to an angel named Dumah on angel radio which he was still growing accustomed to, and then a dark-haired female angel appeared at the door and said, “Yes, Naomi. What do you need?” She shot Lucifer a wary look. “Or do you need me… uh… sir?”</p><p>“Take Mr. Singer back to his heaven,” Naomi said. “See him settled and then come to the throne room. Lucifer is going to help us.”</p><p>“He’s going to <em>what</em>?” Bobby asked. “Now, look here, whatever that monster is promising you, you can’t trust him. Shove him in this damn cell instead of me.”</p><p>Sam forced himself not to flinch from Bobby’s anger as Dumah opened the cell and pulled Bobby out by the elbow.</p><p>A question occurred to him. He didn’t want to ask it as he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer, but he owed it to Bobby. When Bobby and Dumah were gone, he addressed Naomi. “Did Castiel know what happened to Bobby?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Sam squeezed his eyes closed as heat raced through his veins. It was potent as an electric shock and created a buzzing in his ears.</p><p>“Did he try to help him?” he asked.</p><p>“He appealed for him at first, but when he came later, it was with an appeal for us to help him. He didn’t ask again.”</p><p>Sam’s hands fisted, and he had to fight down an urge to attack her in place of the one he wanted to hurt. That Castiel had done this, had known and hidden it from him and Dean, enraged him.</p><p>He drew a breath and said, “Okay. What do I need for this spell, theory, whatever?”</p><p>“We need to prepare the throne room for it, and there’s an ingredient you will have to retrieve from one of us.”</p><p>“What ingredient?” Sam asked.</p><p>“Grace. The spell requires the grace of an angel. You need to take mine.”</p><p>Sam narrowed his eyes, the fury still pulsing through him, and a smile curved his lips. “Never mind your grace, there’s another angel I can use.”</p><p><em>You sure about this, Sam? </em>Gabriel asked. <em>I get that you’re pissed, but this is a bit extreme.</em></p><p>She tilted her head to the side. “Are you talking about Castiel?”</p><p>Sam spoke through his teeth. “Yes. Get him here.”</p><p>XXx</p><p>The walls of the room were daubed with sigils that had been painted in deep red blood.</p><p>Naomi had explained the blood had come from a holy man. She’d been confused when he’d questioned whether the man had lived, not understanding why he’d think it mattered. To Lucifer—and to her—it wouldn’t. Sam was the one that cared.</p><p>On the strange white throne was a silver bowl with a blue fire burning inside it. There were ingredients in the bowl that Sam didn’t know the names of, though he knew one was a piece of the rubble from the cell Gadreel had broken.</p><p>Beside him stood Naomi with a glass vial in her hand. “You need to pour the grace into the fire as you say the Enochian,” she instructed.</p><p>It was on the tip of Sam’s tongue to say he didn’t know much Enochian, and then he realized, with a sense of dawning realization, that he did. Every word and intonation was seared into his mind. More, he was speaking Enochian to her and had been since he arrived.</p><p>“What do I have to say,” he asked.</p><p>“Open the way,” she said. </p><p>“And you really think this will work?” he asked.</p><p>“We hope it will. Indra has been working on it for months in seclusion, studying the oldest texts and tales.”</p><p>“And the spell will turn the souls into power, too?”</p><p>“It will start the process. When the souls reach their heavens, they will create the path themselves. You need to say ‘Bring light’”</p><p>Sam nodded and looked around the room. “They’re taking too long. I need Castiel here now.”</p><p><em>Stop and think about this, Sam… </em>Gabriel started, but Sam ignored the voice and looked around as he heard a disturbance in the hall.</p><p>Castiel was dragged in by two angels. His eyes roved and settled on Sam. “What are you doing, Lucifer?”</p><p>Sam marched towards him and grabbed him by the throat. He shoved him against the wall and lifted him until his feet were dangling. “You knew!” he growled. “Bobby was in that cell all this time and you never told us!”</p><p>Castiel couldn’t speak, but his eyes asked the question.</p><p>Sam pulled him from the wall and slammed him back into it, his head colliding with a thunk. “I care because he was <em>my</em> family. He belonged to us and you left him there.”</p><p>“Lucifer,” Naomi said hesitantly. “What are you saying?”</p><p>Sam ignored her and drew his blade. He released Castiel who slumped and tried to escape, rolling to the right and getting to his feet. Sam kicked his legs out from under him and bent over him.</p><p>“You’re the abomination, Castiel,” he said. “Not me. You’re the monster here.”</p><p>Castiel’s eyes widened as Sam brought the tip of his blade to his throat.</p><p>“I’m taking your grace,” he said. “You can go back to Dean and tell him what I did and why. You can explain what you did to Bobby. Let him see what a monster you are.”</p><p>Castiel shook his head jerkily, and Gabriel’s voice in Sam’s mind spoke up again, <em>Stop and think, Sam! You don’t want to do this. It’s Cas!</em></p><p>Sam was on the point of doing it, cutting Castiel’s throat, when Gabriel shouted, <em>Think about Dean! He’s got Michael after him. Are you seriously going to take away his strongest ally?</em></p><p>His words penetrated, and Sam gasped. He couldn’t believe how close he had come to leaving Dean vulnerable.</p><p>Reason returned and, he changed his aim from Castiel to Naomi and made a swift cut of his blade through her neck.</p><p>Blood trickled with the grace that spilled out of the small wound. Sam grabbed the vial from her hand and held it up. The grace flowed into it and he waited until the last was gone before he pressed his thumb over the opening to seal it inside and then healed Naomi’s throat.</p><p><em>That’s it,</em> Gabriel said. <em>Now the spell.</em></p><p>Sam went to the throne and tipped the grace into the fire as he chanted the Enochian, <em>“Odo a fafen. Olpirt ugear.”</em></p><p>The flames roared up and he took a step back. There was nothing for a moment but the heat of the fire on his face and shocked breaths behind him, and then there was a sonorous clang, the floor began to shake and a howling wind swept through the room like a gale. Dumah and Naomi were thrown to the floor, and Castiel skidded on his back into a wall, but Sam remained standing, the wind rushing through his hair and wings.</p><p>“It’s working,” he said gleefully. “I can feel it.”</p><p>In the wind were voices and laughter. He could hear the souls rejoicing as they passed him by, relishing their arrival in their rightful place at last.</p><p>It seemed to last forever before the wind died, and Sam looked up the ceiling. The lights that had dipped periodically were glowing brighter than ever before.</p><p>It was more than the physical proof that made Sam sure it had worked though; it was the feeling of the place. The warmth and sense of home he felt were stronger now, more potent. It was the feeling of Dean.</p><p><em>It’s home,</em> Gabriel said.</p><p>Sam looked around as Dumah stood and helped Naomi to her feet. She was wavering, and Sam could see the shock in her pale face.</p><p>Castiel was still on the floor, watching Sam as if he expected him to strike at any moment. Sam walked towards him and bent so their faces were close.</p><p>“You get to keep your grace <em>and</em> live, Castiel,” he said. “Now go tell Dean what you’ve done.”</p><p><em>Easy, Sam, </em>Gabriel said gently.</p><p>Sam straightened up and addressed Dumah. “Get him out of here, Naomi, too. Take her… wherever. Set her up with what she needs.”</p><p>Dumah nodded and edged Naomi to the door then turned back and looked at Castiel. “You should come,” she advised. “I don’t think his mercy will last.”</p><p>Sam huffed a laugh. “No, it really won’t.”</p><p>That wasn’t entirely true. Now that it was over, he felt calm. Castiel had betrayed them, left Bobby to suffer, but he didn’t deserve to die for it. He didn’t want Castiel leaving with the impression that he was going to be kind though. He wanted him knowing he’d gotten off lightly and that Sam was a threat. If he could impart that message to Dean and the others, they would take him seriously when it came to Michael. They would hopefully leave him to complete his task without interfering and putting Dean in danger.</p><p>Castiel scrambled to his feet and rushed out of the room after Naomi and Dumah.</p><p>Sam stopped a moment and just breathed, and then he felt a stirring in his chest that made his wings prickle.</p><p>Seeing Bobby had been a failure, he’d not achieved what he wanted but there was someone else he could see, even if she couldn’t see him.</p><p>He headed to the door and marched in the opposite direction to that which Dumah and her charges had taken. He strode along the hall, drawn by the instinct that he would end up where he needed to be.</p><p>It took time but he didn’t tire. If anything, he grew more energized. And when he reached the door he wanted, he thrust it open and peered inside to see a magical scene.</p><p>Charlie Bradbury was sitting on the floor of a living room decorated in pale blues and greens. In front of her was a Christmas tree laden with baubles, tinsel, and blinking lights. Sitting opposite her were two people he assumed were her parents. They were beaming at her, love in their eyes as she tore into the gift-wrap on a box. She looked so happy; they all did. They were together as Charlie had wished they were for many long lonely years of her life. </p><p>Sam closed the door and started off along the hall again. He’d done something good, bringing all those souls to heaven and sustaining it for them in future, and his reward had been seeing Charlie.</p><p>The only pang he felt in that moment was that he hadn’t been able to share the moment with Dean. It would have meant as much to him as it had Sam.</p><p>Charlie was with her family again and she was happy. And for a while, maybe just an hour, Sam would be happy too. </p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Dean and Nick were eating pizza at the table in the war room when the door creaked open and slammed above them. It was just the two of them as Jack had said he wasn’t hungry and wanted to watch some TV instead of hanging with them—something he’d been doing a lot of recently—and Mary was on a case in California with Bobby.</p><p>Dean looked up over the banister and saw Castiel peering down at them.</p><p>“Hey, Cas,” he said. “You okay?”</p><p>“Yes, I’m fine.”</p><p>The tone alone contradicted the words, and as Dean got a closer look at his friend, as he walked down the stairs, his face showed just how far from fine the angel was.</p><p>“Did you get to Heaven?” Nick asked.</p><p>Dean shot him an annoyed look. Castiel obviously wasn't doing great, and he could do without Nick's impatience and lack of manners. Though it wasn't exactly unexpected in the situation, Nick was stressed to the hilt about Lucifer and Michael, it was still not helpful.</p><p>“Oh yes,” Castiel said. “I got to Heaven.”</p><p>“And?” Nick pressed.</p><p>Castiel touched a hand to his throat and said, “Lucifer got there first.”</p><p>Dean sucked in a breath. “Lucifer was in Heaven!”</p><p>His mind raced through possibilities. If Lucifer went there with violence in mind, they were screwed. There were barely enough angels left to keep Heaven ticking over as it was. If he killed even one, it could be enough to send it all crashing down. And there were billions of innocent souls up there that Lucifer could screw with. People they loved among them. If Lucifer decided to go after John or Bobby to hurt them…</p><p>“What happened?” he asked urgently.</p><p>Castiel pulled out a chair and slumped into it, his elbows resting on the table. His face was dark and somehow more vulnerable than usual. Dean had seen Castiel hurting many times, both physically and emotionally, but he’d not seen him like this in a long time; not since the last day of the apocalypse when Nick had given consent and Lucifer took control.</p><p>“Castiel!” Nick snapped. “What was he doing there?”</p><p>Castiel drew a heaving breath and said, “Lucifer saved Heaven.”</p><p>Dean’s eyebrow shot up with disbelief. “He did what?”</p><p>“He saved heaven,” Castiel said again. “There was a spell that I think Naomi had found. At first, he entered Heaven and stopped me following, and then they came for me. The throne room was prepared for a ritual, and Lucifer was…” He touched his throat again. “The spell needed grace to work, and he was going to take mine.”</p><p>“Going to?” Nick asked cautiously. “But he didn’t, right? You’re still an angel?”</p><p>“I am,” Castiel said, his eyes sad, as if he knew Nick’s question was based from a strategic standpoint instead of concern for his friend.</p><p>Dean knew Nick cared about Castiel, he was their family, but Nick was also a damn good soldier. He saw things in terms of strategy, advantages and disadvantages. They were facing a big fight right now, and they needed an angel on their side to win it. That was what Nick was seeing. When the fight was over, he’d go back to concerning himself with the emotional aspect of it. </p><p>“He took Naomi’s grace instead,” Castiel went on. “But it was only at the last second. He was locked on me, and something changed his mind. I have no idea what it was."</p><p>Nick waved away his words. “He was never locked on you, Cas. It’s just more of the act. He wanted you to see him as merciful.”</p><p>Castiel looked at Nick, something strange in his expression, and then he said, “Perhaps, but he is different now.”</p><p>“He’s really not,” Nick stated.</p><p>“He saved Heaven and freed the souls in the Veil,” Castiel said. “Dumah told me when Naomi and I were brought back to earth. The spell opened Heaven and created a path for the souls’ power to sustain their own personal heavens. It will not fail now as it’s serving itself. The veil is only occupied by those that were vengeful or refused to move on. The chaos is over. Heaven is open and strong again.”</p><p>Nick considered his words a moment, his eyes dark, and then shook his head and said, "No. He's trying to lull us into a false sense of security. We can't trust him."</p><p>“No one’s trusting him, Nicky, but he did just do us all a solid saving Heaven and opening the gates,” Dean pointed out. “So far—letting Jody live and doing this for Heaven and the Veil—his whole plan is working out for us. If he could take out Michael too to persuade us he’s good, I might even buy him a beer.”</p><p>Nick's face reddened with anger, and Dean held up his hands.</p><p>“Kidding. But it is working for us, you can’t deny that. And if he goes after Michael, it means we’ve only got one archangel to take down. I’d call that a good day.”</p><p>Nick nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t mind who ends Michael, but Lucifer is ours. If we can’t kill him, and I wish we could, we can send him back to the Cage. He can rot in there.”</p><p>“It might be a little hard for him to kill Michael,” Castiel said. “Lucifer is not at full power at the moment. I don’t understand how or why, but I sensed it when he attacked me. He’s still stronger than me, but not as strong as before, and definitely not as strong as he should be with Jack’s grace in him. That’s why the injuries looked so bad on the video; though why he needed to stitch himself up, I don’t know. He should have had enough grace to heal himself over only a little time. Something happened to him.”</p><p>“Something like Michael?” Dean asked.</p><p>“No. Dumah said he has no vessel yet, and there is no way Lucifer is working with him. In fact…”</p><p>“What?” Dean asked.</p><p>Castiel looked between the two of them, his expression wary as it settled on Nick as if anticipating an explosion. “He doesn’t want us going after Michael at all. He said that we should protect Nick to stop him from being used as a reason for you to deal with Michael. He seemed genuinely concerned that you would give yourself to him as a vessel, Dean.”</p><p>Nick's eyes darkened, and Dean waited for his explosion, sure it was coming, and then he shook his head and said, “It’s just the act.”</p><p>“You’ve said that a lot, but it doesn’t tally with what I saw,” Castiel said. “He could have easily taken my grace today. He could have killed me; he wanted to, I saw. He didn’t do either. I think he wanted me to be here to help you.”</p><p>“That’s bullshit!” Nick slapped the tabletop. "He's screwing with you. He doesn't care about Dean or me or anyone else. He is working a plan, and it's fooling you already. You’ve got to stop, Cas. He’s making you weak, which means we’re weak. You cannot trust anything he does or says. He’s not one of us.”</p><p>Castiel ducked his head, and Dean saw a shadow of something that looked like guilt on his face before he concealed it.</p><p>He’d seen guilt on Castiel before many times, and it made him uneasy now. There was something he was hiding, and they needed to know what it was. Judging from the look on Nick’s face, Castiel wasn’t going to be sharing it with them if he was there to hear it.</p><p>Dean drained the dregs of his beer and said, “Grab some more beers, Nicky. I don’t know about you, but after his latest Lucifer update, I need one.”</p><p>Nick nodded and got to his feet without question, showing Dean he needed the drink, too. Perhaps he also needed some space to work through his anger. He had a temper, but he was usually pretty good at taking the time to deal with it when it reared.</p><p>When Nick had disappeared along the hall to the kitchen, Dean stared at Castiel until he looked up, and then said, “What aren’t you telling us, Cas? Did Lucifer do something else.”</p><p>Castiel's eyes became sad, and he nodded. "Yes, he said something that you need to know, but…"</p><p>“But?”</p><p>Castiel bowed his head. “I have done something terrible, Dean.”</p><p>Dean drew a slow breath. It wasn’t like Castiel had never screwed up before, they’d lived with the consequences of it, but they really didn’t need more to deal with than they already had. But they needed to know, Dean did at least, even if Castiel couldn’t say it in front of Nick.</p><p>He formed his features into neutrality and said, “What did you do?”</p><p>Castiel closed his eyes as he started to speak, only opening them and looking up when he came to the end to see Dean’s reaction. “When you had the Mark of Cain, Nick and I contacted Bobby in Heaven so that he could help me to gain access to reach Metatron. It involved Bobby breaking out of his own heaven and disturbing other souls. Angels were hurt in the melee that followed. After it ended, Bobby was punished for his actions. They put him in jail.”</p><p>Dean’s jaw clenched. “Bobby was in jail because you dragged him into my problems?”</p><p>Dean had known Nick had reached Bobby, it came out in a drunken night of confession shortly after the Mark had been removed, but Dean hadn’t considered it ending with Bobby being punished for it. That had been years ago. Had Bobby been in jail all that time because of him?</p><p>“We were desperate,” Castiel said defensively. “You were slipping away from us, and—”</p><p>Dean held up a hand. "I know what I was, and I get why you did it. But I'm guessing you knew what happened to Bobby, yet you didn't mention it once. Did Nick know?”</p><p>Castiel shook his head jerkily, and his eyes darted to the hall Nick would return down soon. "No, I never told anyone. I did try to have him freed, but they wouldn't do it, and the times I returned after it was to plead for help for us and the things we were facing. I had nothing to bargain with. I couldn’t tell you and Nick. It would only have hurt you.”</p><p>“And yet you’re telling us now, well, me, so what’s changed?”</p><p>“I have to now. Lucifer said something. Bobby is free, Dumah said Lucifer insisted on it. He was apparently very angry when he found out what happened.”</p><p>Dean raised an eyebrow. “Lucifer was angry that Bobby was in jail? That makes no sense.”</p><p>“No, and it wasn’t for my benefit, I don’t think. I wouldn’t have known if not for Dumah. But after, when he summoned me to Heaven to take my grace, he was furious with me for what I did, knowing and not telling you. Except, he framed it as if I should have told <em>him</em>. And he said…”</p><p>“What?” Dean growled. “What did he say, Cas?”</p><p>“He said Bobby was his family. It makes no sense, I know.”</p><p>“No, it doesn’t," Dean agreed. "He killed Bobby."</p><p>“I remember, but he truly seemed to care for him.”</p><p>Dean rubbed his hand over his face and took a breath. He needed to think and get it sorted before Nick got back. There were things that he couldn’t know.</p><p>“Okay, you’re going to keep this to yourself,” he said. “You don’t tell Nick about Lucifer apparently thinking he’s got some claim on Bobby. It’ll screw him up and put him on alert even more than he already is. He <em>hates</em> Lucifer, he’s scared of him.”</p><p>“What about what happened to Bobby?” Castiel asked.</p><p>“You definitely don’t tell him about that.”</p><p>“Shouldn’t he know?” </p><p>Dean stared him in the eye. “There’s a reason you didn’t tell me this until he was gone, Cas, and that’s because you know what he’ll do to you if he finds out.”</p><p>Castiel’s face creased into sadness. “Do you really think he’ll kill me?”</p><p>Dean was shocked Castiel would draw that conclusion. Nick would be pissed, and Dean wouldn’t put it past him to attack Castiel for hiding what he had known from them. Nick had loved Bobby and had never really gotten over what happened to him. Neither had Dean. It was worse now that they had the alternate version of Bobby running around—same face, same voice, different man. It hurt. But Nick would never <em>really</em> hurt him.</p><p>“He won’t kill you,” Dean said, and Castiel looked reassured until he went on, “but he’ll never forgive you for it. We need to be a team for this fight, and if Nick knew about Bobby, about you leaving him there, it would destroy that.”</p><p>“I understand. I won’t tell him. But, Dean, they didn’t hurt Bobby. I would never have left him there if I thought he was suffering.”</p><p>Dean spoke through his teeth, anger rising, “He was in jail for years, Cas!”</p><p>“I am sorry,” Castiel said dolefully.</p><p>Dean sighed and then forced himself to smile as he heard footsteps approaching along the hall. “Hey, Nicky,” he said when he appeared and set the six-pack down on the table, “did you get lost on the way?”</p><p>“No,” Nick said, pulling out a beer and twisting off the cap. “Mom called, so I told her the news. She’s going to fill Bobby in on the Heaven thing.”</p><p>"Good," Dean said, taking a beer from the pack and opening it. "She say anything else?”</p><p>"No, not really. I told her to call us if they run into any trouble with the case. I don't think they will, though. They're working on it, and it looks like a simple vengeful spirit.”</p><p>Dean noticed that Castiel was staring at Nick with wariness, and he nudged him under the table with his foot and said, “Yeah, a spirit’s no problem. I was thinking maybe we should head out again, too, find a case.”</p><p>Nick frowned. “You want to hunt?”</p><p>“Yeah. We’re just kicking our heels here until Ketch comes through for us on the magic eggs. We might as well use the time to fix other problems. There’s plenty of fuglys out there that we can vent some of the tension on.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Nick said thoughtfully. “I’ll get on the laptop in the morning, search something up for us. What about Jack, though? Are we taking him with us?”</p><p>“Nah, he can stay here with Cas. He’s the best person to help Jack deal with all this.” He looked at Castiel. “You’ve lived the powered down life before. You know what he’s going through.”</p><p>Castiel nodded. “Of course. I will help him.”</p><p>Nick took a swig of his beer and said, “Sure. Okay.”</p><p>Dean was pleased that Nick was on board as he had a feeling Castiel’s sense of self-preservation was wavering a little. He probably wanted to unload his guilt by telling Nick the truth, but Dean couldn’t risk that happening. They needed to be a team.</p><p>And, selfishly, Dean didn’t want to see Nick losing it and going after his best friend.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam missed his brother.</p><p>He missed all of his family—even Castiel now he’d had time to calm down—but it was Dean that filled the nights while he sat awake throughout the darkness, wishing his grace would still allow him to sleep as it replenished.</p><p>He wanted to see him, but he had no idea how or if it would even be a good idea. Dean would look at him with hatred again, and missing him would be nothing compared to that. He could go to him without being seen, invisible, but would he be able to resist showing himself so he could talk to him?</p><p>He didn’t know.</p><p>Sam slumped back on the couch and closed his eyes. He was feeling at a loss and low. He just wanted his brother. He’d lived without him before, but that had been different. He’d not known Dean was living a happy life with a new brother at the time—a brother that was Satan.</p><p><em>You’re wasting time with this, Sam. How is it helping anyone to sit around in this place? </em>Gabriel asked. <em>You’ve got power, buddy, archangel power. You should be working the Michael problem. What about other vessels? You could track him down with them.</em></p><p>“Yeah, but that could be anyone,” Sam said. “Me and Dean have no idea how Nick was our bloodline, but Lucifer used him.” </p><p>
  <em>You think Michael would go for a generic alternative to a Winchester? Be serious. He used Adam and your Dad here. Is this other version going to be much different? If it’s not Dean, who is it?</em>
</p><p>Sam sat upright and pushed his hair back from his face. Gabriel was right. Michael wasn’t going to lower himself to a secondary vessel. He’d want a good one. Even if he didn’t take Dean, there were others. Sam didn’t believe John would ever say yes. Not again. He’d been innocent when he’d given consent in 1978, before he’d spent two decades as a hunter. He wouldn’t make that mistake again, and he wouldn’t be tricked.</p><p><em>Yeah, but there are other Winchesters that might, </em>Gabriel pointed out.</p><p>“But there’s no angels that can bring them back.”</p><p>Zachariah had bought Adam back for Michael. Right now, Michael was nothing more than disembodied grace. Unless Gabriel was wrong. Would Michael lower himself to taking a lesser vessel just to get access to the one he wanted?</p><p>Sam needed to know. He concentrated on the distant voices that were whispering in his mind and spoke, hoping he was doing it right. This was his first attempt at speaking on angel radio.</p><p>“Dumah, are you listening?”</p><p>There was nothing for a moment and then a tentative voice answer. <em>“Lucifer?” </em></p><p>Sam sighed. He couldn’t correct her without opening himself up to questions, but he hated to be called Lucifer. Of all the people Chuck could have chosen to swap him with, it had to be the one living monster he hated more than anyone else.</p><p>“Yes. I need information.”</p><p>
  <em>“What do you need to know?”</em>
</p><p>“Michael. Is there any news on him? Has he been in touch with anyone?”</p><p>
  <em>“Not with any angel. We’re still residing in Heaven, and he hasn’t attempted to come here.”</em>
</p><p>“He doesn’t need the portal though, does he? He can fly. I did when I left after it was opened.”</p><p>
  <em>“No. He’s not come yet, though we are aware that he might. There is little he’d want from us though. There are so few of us and so our use for him is minimal.”</em>
</p><p>“Okay,” Sam said. “If that changes, let me know. I want to hear everything, no matter how small.”</p><p><em>“I will. What do you plan to do to him?”</em> she asked nervously.</p><p>“I’m going to kill him.”</p><p>There was a pause and then she said, <em>“Good.”</em></p><p>Sam was on the point of withdrawing from the exchange when he realized there was something else he could ask her. He knew little about his family line since John hadn’t been much into genealogy and had barely told them anything about their family at all. The angels, having cared enough about the Winchester line to intervene and get John and Mary together with the help of a cupid, would know more.</p><p>“One more thing,” he said. “Who else is in the Winchester line that Michael could use as a vessel?”</p><p>
  <em>“There’s only Dean Winchester living.”</em>
</p><p>“What about the ones that are dead? If he found a vessel or reaper to help, who could be brought back to use.”</p><p>
  <em>“It would need to be within a certain generation of Dean. His father, John, or his grandfather Henry would do, but no one further back than that.”</em>
</p><p>“And Dad would never do it,” Sam muttered.</p><p><em>“You mean God?”</em> Dumah asked, her confusion obvious. <em>“I don’t think he’ll interfere at all.”</em></p><p>“No, I meant…. Yeah. God. And no, he’s not going to get involved. But Henry could work…”</p><p>
  <em>He could. If Michael found a willing reaper to bring him back and a way to persuade the grandfather, he would be a near-perfect vessel.”</em>
</p><p>Sam felt a sinking in his stomach. Henry, brave as he’d been, wasn’t like Sam or Dean. He’d not lived the same kind of life they had. He might not stand up if Michael or his reapers tortured him. Sam was going to have to protect him from himself somehow.</p><p><em>You know what you’ve got to do, Sam, </em>Gabriel said calmly.</p><p>Sam winced. He did know, but he didn’t want to desecrate his grandfather’s grave to do it. He’d done it to strangers hundreds of times before, but that had been different. That had been to stop spirits. Henry was at peace.</p><p><em>It’s not like he’ll know, </em>Gabriel pointed out.<em> He’s in Heaven. You’re just doing it to a shell. And this is bigger than protecting a sense of decency. It’s the world.</em></p><p>“Okay, thank you, Dumah,” Sam said. “I’ll be in touch.”</p><p>He felt more than heard her nervous acknowledgment, perhaps wondering what else the devil would want from her.</p><p><em>You might as well get it over with, </em>Gabriel instructed. <em>It’s not going to get any easier by waiting, and Michael might be closing in on a reaper even now. </em></p><p>“Yeah, I get it!” Sam snapped. “I’ll do it.”</p><p>He stretched his wings and twitched them irritably and then drew them in and went to the basement to find what he’d need. The shovel was going to be easy, Rufus’ cabin was fitted out for grave desecrations, but it was going to be harder to find a curse box. He would need one to put the ashes in and ward it against angels—including himself—to be protected. He was going to need Violet’s help for that.</p><p>Focusing on one thing at a time, he grabbed a shovel, salt, and lighter fluid then took flight to Illinois to the cemetery he and Dean had buried Henry among the other Men of Letters. They’d not wanted to salt and burn him as that had been a hunter’s end, whereas burial was how the Men of Letters were laid to rest. That was convenient now as he was going to need to salt and burn him, but it was still something he’d rather not do.</p><p>He set down beside the grave with its handmade marker and looked around. It was just after midnight and the cemetery was empty. He knew how long it usually took him to dig up a grave, but he figured angel strength was going to speed the process.</p><p>He stuck the shovel into the earth and cut away a tuft of grass, tossing it to the side, then did it again until the grass was gone and he was working with softer earth.</p><p>Even with angel strength, it took time for Sam to reach the coffin they’d broken into a funeral home to steal, Sam himself insisting on doing it properly for Henry. He scraped away the surface dirt and then broke the lid open, revealing the remains of his grandfather. It hadn’t been long enough for it to become bones, but without embalming, it was shrunken and mummy-like now, with the features gone. Sam climbed out of the grave and looked down at it.</p><p>“I’m sorry about this Henry,” he said. “It’s better this way though. This way you get peace.”</p><p>Sam tore open the salt and shook it over the body then poured the lighter fluid on top and dropped the box and can to the ground. He took a book of matches from his pocket and lit one. Violet had said he was capable of pyrokinesis, and he’d managed it a couple of times, but he wanted to do this in a human way. He wanted to cling to as much of Sam Winchester, Dean’s brother and Mary’s son—Henry’s grandson—as he could.</p><p>Sam dropped the lit match into the hole and stood still as the flames roared up and heated his face. He watched it burn and then raised his eyes and called, “Violet, I need you.”</p><p>She arrived without a moment’s pause. Sam guessed she would abandon anything she was doing when he called as her fear for him was potent.</p><p>“Lucifer,” she said, bowing her head jerkily and them looking up at him with wary expectation. “What are you… What can I do?”</p><p>“I need a curse box warded against an angel,” Sam said. “Powerful warding. I don’t even want an archangel to be able to get into it. Can you do that?”</p><p>She nodded. “I can, but… Can I ask why?”</p><p>“I don’t want Michael to get at these ashes,” he said. “It’s the one vessel that he’ll be able to access.”</p><p>“Okay,” she said tentatively.</p><p>Sam could see more questions in her eyes, and he nodded and said, “Go ahead and ask. I know there’s something else.”</p><p>“Why don’t you want him to take the vessel?” she asked. “I thought you planned to fight him.”</p><p>“I do, but I don’t want him in a strong vessel,” Sam said.</p><p>That wasn’t entirely true. Though it would be better for him to fight Michael in a weaker vessel, he was more horrified at the idea of Henry’s soul being disturbed to facilitate a consent. </p><p>“I see. Of course. I will bring a box. There are hunters that store them.”</p><p>“Don’t hurt anyone to get one,” Sam warned.</p><p>She looked startled. “You don’t want me to hurt a hunter?”</p><p>“I don’t,” Sam said fiercely. “Do it covertly and carefully. I’ll be here.”</p><p>She nodded and disappeared, and Sam took a breath. He felt guilty for what he had just done to Henry, even though he knew Gabriel was right that it was just a shell.</p><p>He tugged the grave marker free from the earth and dropped it into the fire.</p><p>It felt oddly right to remove it and let it burn. This was no longer Henry’s grave. When Sam was done, there would be nothing of him left here.</p><p>It was the best way. He was protecting his grandfather by doing this.</p><p>He was protecting the world. </p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you VegasGranny and Ncsupnatfan for pre-reading. Thank you all for reading.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nick scrolled down the page and muttered a curse.</p><p>The hunt he thought he’d found on one of his regular websites had already been debunked. It had been a vague chance anyway, a werewolf sighting that turned out to be too much marijuana on a camping trip. The werewolf had been a homeless man that had been squatting in a cabin near the witnesses’ campsite.</p><p>He and Dean had been on the road for two weeks, but all they’d found was a spirit that had been taken out the same day. They’d kept busy moving around the Midwest, looking for something, coming to Columbus, Ohio, and finding a motel on the outside of the city that Dean had some vague memory of from their childhood. He’d wanted to see if the burgers in the attached diner were as good as they were when he’d been there thirty years ago. Judging from the satisfied sounds he’d been making at lunch, they had been.</p><p>Nick clicked open a new tab, this one a newspaper and began to read.</p><p>Sitting opposite him with his phone in his hand, Dean jerked his head up and slapped the table. “Got something!”</p><p>Nick looked up from the screen and said, “Yeah?”</p><p>Dean nodded with a wide smile. “Nicky, I think we’ve got a ghoul in Illinois.” He ran a finger down the screen and read the headline aloud. <em>“Grave robber at large in Mid-Chicago.</em> Blah, blah, blah, <em>devil worship, possible dark rites on campus</em>… Oh.”</p><p>“Oh, what?” Nick asked.</p><p>Dean looked at him and Nick saw a shadow in his eyes that had wiped away his triumph at finding the case. “It’s Normal.”</p><p>“Grave robbery is normal?”</p><p>“No, the town the cemetery is in is called Normal. It was a cemetery retired in the sixties after a larger and more modern one was created on the other side of town. This one barely got any traffic.”</p><p>“So it’s not a ghoul,” Nick said, feeling disappointed. “There would be nothing to eat if it’s that old a grave.”</p><p>“It’s Normal, <em>Illinois</em>, Nick.”</p><p>Something pricked in Nick’s mind and his mouth dropped open. “But that’s… Henry!”</p><p>“Exactly. It sounds like the cemetery where we buried him with the other Men of Letters. It’s not the hunting ground for a ghoul since there wouldn’t be meat left, so there’s another reason for him to be dug up. Some other reason for someone to want <em>that</em> body.”</p><p>Nick pressed the heels of his hand to his eyes. “It’s Michael. Dammit. Why didn’t we think?”</p><p>“We’ve been busy with the rest of the crap storm. Lucifer has been the louder voice for us with his whole… change thing going on.”</p><p>“The act,” Nick corrected.</p><p>“Yeah, that.”</p><p>Nick swore loudly. He had been focused on Lucifer more than Michael, thinking that Michael was less of an issue without a vessel. Apparently, he now had a vessel.</p><p>He crashed the power on his laptop and slammed it closed. “We’ve got to go home”</p><p>“Yeah, but I think that we should detour to Illinois first,” Dean said. “I get that it’s a long-shot, but it might not be Henry.”</p><p>Nick raised an eyebrow. “That’s a <em>long </em>long-shot.”</p><p>“What do we have to lose looking?” Dean asked.</p><p>Nick conceded his point. “Sure. We’ll put a call into Cas and Jack, first, let them know what’s going on, then we’ll go. Get Mom back to the bunker, too.”</p><p>Dean looked worried. “You think Michael will go after her?”</p><p>“Honestly, I don’t know. But I at least want to talk to her about it, and not on the phone. I’ll feel better if we can all be together for a while, see Mom.”</p><p>He wanted to make sure she was okay. He didn’t think Michael would go for her really, but he wanted to check in with her, make sure she knew what the risks were.</p><p>“Take a breath, man,” Dean said in a tone that was supposed to calm but aggravated instead. “So Michael has a vessel, okay, we can handle that. Panicking isn’t going to help anyone.”</p><p>“I’m not panicking.”</p><p>He wasn’t. There was some relief even. If Michael had Henry, he wasn’t going to be coming for Dean. That was good news. He just wanted to see his family together. He wasn’t being weak or emotional. It was tactical. They needed to be together to plan.  </p><p>Dean examined him a moment, clearly not convinced, and Nick shoved the laptop into its bag and picked up his phone. “I’ll call Mom,” he said. “You call Cas.”</p><p>Dean nodded and Nick hit the second speed-dial that would connect him to his mother’s cell. He’d get her to the bunker while they went to the graveyard in Normal then join her at home with facts instead of theories.</p><p>He wasn’t sure which he wanted more: Michael to have Henry so Dean was safe, or Michael to still be grace on the air and helpless.</p><p>One was a cruel fate for his grandfather, the other was a danger for his brother.</p><p>xXx</p><p>They parked outside the rusted gates of the cemetery and Nick took the lead inside. It was as gloomy as it had been when they were there before, though it was afternoon and the sun was shining. The neglected appearance of the graves that were there, the lack of flowers and other decorations, made the place look bleak.</p><p>There was one outstanding part of the scene, a cop standing at the rear of the cemetery in front of what had been a grave marked by a wooden cross beside two others with stone markers. The grass over it was disturbed, as if it had been replaced carelessly.</p><p>“Damn,” Dean groaned. “You see that? It <em>was</em> Henry.”</p><p>Nick sighed though his own disappointment. “Yeah. Let’s find out what happened.”</p><p>“We already know, Nick,” Dean pointed out.</p><p>Nick didn’t reply. He went ahead across the tufted grass to the cop who looked up at their approach and eyed him curiously. Dean fell into step beside him, and Nick murmured, “Got your badge?”</p><p>“Always,” Dean replied.</p><p>“Let me take the lead.”</p><p>Nick drew his badge from his jeans pocket and held it up when he reached the cop. “Hello, Officer,” he said. “I’m Page and this is my partner Plant. We’re with the bureau.”</p><p>The cop looked them up and down and Nick examined him at the same time. He looked maybe mid-twenties, and his blonde hair was shorn close to the scalp.</p><p>“You don’t look like feds,” he said.</p><p>Nick smiled ingratiatingly. “We’re actually on vacation. I’ve got family in the area, and we heard what happened, so I thought we should check it out. I called Agent Plant to come along with me since he was close.”</p><p>“Just for a grave robbery?”</p><p>Nick could tell the cop was annoyingly shrewd, and he tried to think of a way to come at the situation that wouldn’t reveal his rising temper.</p><p>Dean spoke up before he could find anything to say. “We’ve got a personal connection to the case.” He shot a quick look at the untouched grave beside the cop. “David Ackers was family on Agent Page’s mother’s side.”</p><p>Nick nodded and formed his face into something suitably sad. “Mom’s really shaken up. We didn’t know whose grave it was as she wasn’t notified. Obviously, I’m glad it wasn’t him.”</p><p>The cop looked appeased and said, “No, we’ve not been able to notify the family as the grave wasn’t on the records. It’s strange as Chicago has strict rules on burials. No one in the city department even knew there was a new grave. That’s not the only weird thing. I’m not sure what you heard, but the body wasn’t technically stolen. It was burned. We got an anonymous report from some kids that there was a grave robber, and when we came to check, we saw what had happened.”</p><p>Nick frowned. “The body was burned?”</p><p>“Yes, we think so. There were scraps of charred wood inside that we think was a coffin and traces of ash, but nothing else before we covered it up again—health and safety, you know? Well… actually, there was one more thing, but it’s even weirder.”</p><p>“We’re good with weird,” Dean said. “What did you find?”</p><p>The cop raised an eyebrow and said, “An empty box of salt and can of lighter fluid beside the hole. That weird enough for you?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Nick said vaguely. “Plenty weird enough.”</p><p>Henry hadn’t been taken; he’d been salted and burned. That wouldn’t help Michael at all as a vessel, which meant it couldn’t be him that did it. It was possible that it was another hunter, that Henry had been a spirit that had to be dealt with, but most hunters would have recognized the name Winchester. Surely, they’d have gotten in touch if they’d stumbled across the name. And how would they have traced the off-record grave anyway?</p><p>“Okay, that’s great,” Dean said, rubbing his hands together. “Thanks for your help.”</p><p>“It’s great?” the cop asked doubtfully.</p><p>“Obviously not for whoever’s grave that was,” Nick said quickly. “But for us, it is since it isn’t Uncle David. I’ll go tell mom now. She’ll be so pleased.”</p><p>The cop nodded. “I’m glad someone gets good news out of this anyway. I’ve got to stay on duty here until dark when I’ll be spelled by someone else. We’re waiting to see if the perpetrators return to the scene. The Chief is coming down hard on them if he finds them. There are some things that shouldn’t be done, and burning bodies is one of them.”</p><p>“Yeah, absolutely,” Nick said. “Thanks.”</p><p>He tugged Dean’s arm and they set off back to the car. Neither of them spoke until they were in the car and Dean was driving them away from the cemetery.</p><p>“It wasn’t Michael,” he said.</p><p>“Nope. You think Lucifer? Maybe he doesn’t want Michael to have a strong vessel.”</p><p>Nick considered. “Maybe. It doesn’t feel right though. I just can’t see Lucifer digging up a grave.”</p><p>“Maybe he had someone else do it. We know he’s got at least one ally—Violet. And if he really did fix Heaven, the angels would be willing to fix things up for him. Who else would want to do it but him?”</p><p>“Another hunter?” Nick suggested.</p><p>Dean sighed. “We’d have heard about it. This is Lucifer going after Michael. I think we need to talk to Billie. She might have some insight into what’s going on with Michael and Lucifer. At least she’ll be able to tell us what the deal is with Violet. She’ll know if she’s joined the Darkside or if Lucifer has a demon riding her.”</p><p>Nick gritted his teeth. He didn’t like Billie. He’d not forgiven her for threatening to shove them in the Empty. She’d come through for them when they’d been gathering souls to take out Amara, but that hadn’t been for their sakes. That had been pure self-interest. He didn’t trust her and didn’t want to see her.</p><p>He didn’t think they had a choice though. They needed all the help they could get, and she was the most powerful and knowledgeable being on earth now that Chuck had taken off. He had no expectations that she would interfere with Michael and Lucifer, but she might be able to help them with information.</p><p>“Okay,” he said. “We can talk to her, but we’ll try Jessica first. She can pass along the request for us. I don’t want to summon Death and piss her off.”</p><p>“Agreed.” Dean steered the car to the side of the road and cut the engine then climbed out.</p><p>Nick got out, too, and met him at the front of the car where he leaned against the hood and crossed his arms over his chest as he raised his eyes and said, “Jessica, are you around? We need to talk.”</p><p>Dean looked around and, after a minute’s wait, said, “Maybe not. We’ll have to try Billie.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t do that,” a voice said behind them. “I don’t like being called like a dog.”</p><p>They both turned and saw Billie circling the car and coming to a stop opposite them.</p><p>“Uh, hey,” Dean said.</p><p>She shot him a withering look and then fixed her eyes on Nick, a strange look in her eyes. “Hello, <em>Nick</em>,” she said, laying emphasis on the name. “Enjoying life with your <em>brother</em>?”</p><p>“Why are you saying it like that?” Dean asked. “That’s Nick, right?”</p><p>Nick scowled at him. “Of course it’s me. What are you thinking? Shapeshifter or do you think Lucifer slipped in when I wasn’t looking?”</p><p>His tone was harsh, but the momentary doubt in Dean’s face burned, like he wouldn’t know if Nick was gone and replaced with someone else. They were brothers, dammit. They <em>knew</em> each other. If something was wrong, Dean would be able to tell.</p><p>“No, I mean, yeah,” Dean said, holding his hands up in a placatory gesture. “Of course you’re Nick. I just got my words screwed up.”</p><p>“It <em>is</em> Nick,” Billie said. “Nick Winchester. Tell me, Nick, how are you enjoying life with your family?”</p><p>Nick rolled his eyes. “Life is awesome. We’ve got two crazy archangels on the loose, and Jack’s grace has been drained to almost nothing so we’ve got no weapon to use against either of them, but other than that…”</p><p>“No weapon yet,” Billie said pointedly. “I heard you had a plan to send them to the Cage.” In answer to Dean’s raised eyebrow, she went on, “You are still being watched. I have a rotating shift of reapers on your tail. For your own protection, of course.”</p><p>Nick was pissed that they were being followed, especially as none of the ‘rotating shift’ had stepped in to help when they were needed, like when Jack’s throat was being cut. Though he admitted to himself there was probably nothing a reaper could have done to stop an archangel.</p><p>Billie’s lips quirked into a smile. “At least you have your brother with you. Not everyone is so lucky.”</p><p>Nick’s hands fisted and Dean placed a hand on this chest, stopping the acerbic response passing his lips.</p><p>“We wanted to ask about Violet,” Dean said. “We saw her on a video with Lucifer.”</p><p>Billie nodded. “She was with him, yes.”</p><p>“So…” Nick said expectantly. Is she a demon or has she gone rogue?”</p><p>“Neither. She is following orders. I assigned her to help Lucifer.”</p><p>Nick’s eyes widened. “You gave Lucifer a reaper to help?” </p><p>Billie nodded serenely. “I did.”</p><p>“Why?” Dean asked. “You get that he’s the enemy, right?”</p><p>“Not my enemy,” Billie said. “I am a being beyond petty enemies and allies. Neither of them poses a risk to me, so I am neutral in essence. Though…” She smiled. “I gave Lucifer assistance so he would be prepared for Michael. I don’t want him destroying another of the worlds I oversee.”</p><p>“You do know Lucifer will destroy the world, too, right?” Nick asked. “He tried before.”</p><p>“Yes,” Billie said thoughtfully. “Lucifer was quite the threat to humanity before he was dragged to the Cage.”</p><p>“By Nick,” Dean said pointedly. “He gave up everything to stop him, so why are you giving him help now when you know what he’s capable of.”</p><p>Billie smirked. “Yes, of course… it was <em>Nick</em>…”</p><p>“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nick growled.</p><p>The Cage was the defining moment of his life. He had given up everything to stop Lucifer, and he’d suffered almost two centuries of Hell for it. The way Billie said it was like he was taking credit for something someone else did. It incensed him.</p><p>Billie examined her fingernails with a disinterested look on her face. “Nothing that matters anymore,” she said. “And I have spent all the time I am willing to spend with you today. There is something I need to do that is more important than watching you throw a conniption fit, Nick.”</p><p>“Wait!” Dean said urgently. “You’ve got to help us. Our grandfather’s body was burned and the ashes were taken. Was it Lucifer?”</p><p>“Yes. Though it came too late to really change anything. Michael already took a different vessel.”</p><p>Dean's mouth dropped open. “He’s got one. Who is it?”</p><p>Billie chuckled. “You like to jump to the end of the book, too. You two are so alike. Do you like to skip to the end of the book, too, Nick? Is that something that was passed on?”</p><p>Nick just stared at her. He had no idea what she was saying—who it would have been passed on by and who Dean was like—but he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. She seemed intent on screwing with him, so she could go screw herself.</p><p>“Who’s the vessel?” Dean asked again when it became clear Nick wasn’t going to answer.</p><p>Billie shook her head. “I’m not spoiling the ending, but I will tell you one thing. The vessel was taken after some extreme persuasion that involved most of her family dying. The one survivor being her three-month-old son. You can do the rest yourself. There is someone I need to see.”</p><p>“Who?” Nick asked automatically.</p><p>She winked. “Lucifer.”</p><p>Before either of them could say or ask anything else, Billie had looked from Nick to Dean and then disappeared.</p><p>Nick’s hands fisted so tight that his fingernails cut into the flesh of his palms. He didn’t feel the pain, but when Dean grabbed his arm and forced his fingers to unclench, he saw deep, bloody crescent-shaped cuts in his skin.</p><p>“Damnit, Nicky,” Dean sighed.</p><p>“She’s helping Lucifer, Dean!” he said furiously. “She’s <em>helping</em> him!”</p><p>“She is,” Dean said, sounding calm. “Which means we’ve got an advantage. If she’s relying on Lucifer to stop Michael, we do the same. We can focus on just stopping Lucifer.”</p><p>“And if Michael kills him? He killed Lucifer in his world, and all the angels thought he would win here when they had their smackdown, too. Even Cas said it.”</p><p>“Then we focus on them both until that happens and deal with whichever one is left.” He squeezed Nick’s shoulder. “This is good news. The stakes just got cut in our favor.”</p><p>Nick nodded stiffly. “Sure, okay. But I want to know who Michael’s vessel is. A family being killed has got to have made the news.”</p><p>“We’ll go home and get online,” Dean said. “Mom will probably be there by now so we can fill them all in on what Billie said.” He squeezed Nick’s shoulder again and then patted his chest. “If you can stamp down on some of that anger, I’ll even let you drive.”</p><p>Nick smiled in spite of himself. He knew what Dean was offering and the intent behind it, but he didn’t feel capable of calming down yet. It was more than the news about Michael. It was what Billie had said and inferred.</p><p>Somehow, senselessly, she made him feel like he was missing something huge in this puzzle, like he had done something wrong. But he didn’t know what that could be.</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam stood in the ruined living room of what had been a family home and looked at the photographs on the walls. The glass and frames were spattered with blood that partially concealed the pictured faces of the people—the <em>children—</em>that that were even now on their way to the morgue in body bags.</p><p>According to what he’d overheard from the cops that were even now milling around the place, oblivious to his concealed presence, the husband and eldest daughter had died in here while watching a movie together. The middle two children, twin boys, had been murdered in their beds, and the youngest daughter's body had been found in the playroom. The baby, the only true survivor, had been found lying on his father's chest, crying and alone in the room. The mother survived but was gone.</p><p>Though the police were searching for her, ignorantly blaming her for the deaths, Sam knew she would never be found. Michael had her now.</p><p>The deaths were brutal and cruel. However, Michael had done it, and he had confirmation from Billie that it had been him, he'd had help.</p><p>He’d wanted to kill Michael before for the big picture, to save Dean and the world, but now he wanted to do more. He wanted to make it hurt. He wanted Michael to suffer in the same way he’d made these people suffer had to draw the consent from the poor woman he was riding now. The only hope he had was that her awareness had been canceled out when he took her over, and she wasn’t watching what the monster was doing now.</p><p>He examined the woman's face in a wedding photo on a mantle, her husband's face concealed by blood, and fixed it in his mind. She was pretty, and her cocoa skin was radiant with the happiness she'd obviously felt the day she'd married.</p><p>There was no sign in the house that she was devoutly religious, but he supposed she didn’t need to be. It wasn’t faith that had drawn consent from her; it had been her last attempt at gaining mercy for her baby after the rest of her family were killed.</p><p>He stepped aside as a man with a large camera walked towards him to line up a shot of the bloodstained couch. </p><p>His wings spread at his back, waiting for the instruction to take him away from this place of horror, but he stayed in place. He didn’t know where he would go if he left. He couldn’t go back to hiding in the cabin now Michael was out there in a vessel. He needed to hunt him, though he had no idea how.</p><p>
  <em>“Help me! Please, someone!”</em>
</p><p>The voice ripped through his mind, desperate and familiar. He’d never heard a prayer before, but he knew that was what it was and who was calling for help.</p><p>It was Jack, and he sounded terrified.</p><p>Sam fixed on the voice, and his wings tingled as they moved to carry him away. He wasn't sure where the voice would lead him, but he thought he knew where to go anyway. If Jack was vulnerable, there was one safe place where Dean would be keeping him.</p><p>He came to a stop outside the bunker’s concealed entrance and saw that the door was hanging crooked on its hinges with dents at a level that Sam thought meant it had been kicked open.</p><p>He ran through it, hearing the voices calling in panic inside, and rushed down the stairs into the library, still concealed.</p><p>Mary was a pace behind Nick, and he had his arms spread to defend her. Dean and Castiel were a little ahead of them, shouting threats. Jack was pinned to the wall by Michael, wearing the face he’d seen in the woman’s pictures, with one hand around his throat.</p><p>“You hurt me, child,” Michael said. “That was wrong of you.”</p><p>“Let go of him!” Dean shouted.</p><p>Michael smirked. “Perhaps I will if you say yes.”</p><p>“No, Dean,” Nick growled.</p><p>Michael lifted his head and looked around, a smile curving his lips. “I can feel you,” he said. “You might be able to fool the seraph, but I know what an archangel feels like. Show yourself.”</p><p>Sam grabbed Michael’s wrist and yanked it down so that Jack crumpled to the ground and crawled back a few steps before scrambling to his feet and running to stand with Nick and Mary. Nick pushed him behind him and held a hand out in front of him, taking the place of protector, even though he was only able to do that by shielding him with his body.</p><p>At the same moment, Sam made himself visible and saw the looks of shock and horror that filled the faces of his family.</p><p>“Lucifer,” Nick growled.</p><p>Michael smirked. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you, <em>Nick</em>? I know better.”</p><p>“Get away from them, Michael,” Sam said, his blade slipping into his hand. He raised it to point at Michael's heart.</p><p>Michael pushed the blade away roughly and said, “You’re not strong enough, Sam, and you know it.”</p><p>“Sam?” Mary murmured.</p><p>Michael’s incredulous eyes moved between Sam and his family then came back to Sam. “You haven’t told them?”</p><p>“No,” Sam said, drawing his blade up again.</p><p>Michael shoved it away and laughed. “Why not? I would have thought you’d want to be with them again.”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter,” Sam said.</p><p>Michael frowned. “That’s not what I expected. My brother told me all about you and your family. You were supposed to have bonds that went deep as my family’s had once been.”</p><p>Sam glanced back at Dean, seeing the confusion and fear on his face, and he realized how this would look to him. He had two archangels in his home, Jack had been attacked, and they were now speaking in riddles.</p><p>Sam wished they weren’t riddles, that Michael’s words would reach something in him and he’d remember who Sam was, but he knew it wouldn’t happen. Chuck was too powerful and too clever to have his plan destroyed by well-chosen words.</p><p>“That was before,” Sam said. </p><p>Michael smirked. “And this is you now… <em>Lucifer</em>. Do you have his memories, too? Do you remember what he did?”</p><p>“No, I only have my memories.” </p><p>“Then this all must be so confusing for you,” Michael said. “How long did it take you to harness the power?”</p><p>"I had help, so not long."</p><p>“Interesting. And have you seen Dad since? Has he…”</p><p>Sam yanked up the blade again, determined to strike while Michael was distracted with his enjoyment of Sam’s situation, but Michael pushed it down with a hand, though it seemed to take effort.</p><p>"You can't kill me, Sam," he said. "You're not strong enough. I will let you watch, though. I am going to punish the Nephilim and take the son as a vessel.” He plucked the front of the sweater he was wearing. “This one is strong, but he will be much stronger.”</p><p>“You’re not going to touch him,” Sam growled, fire racing through his veins.</p><p>“I really am,” Michael said.</p><p>Michael turned and pointed a finger at Nick, who began to choke and gasp, his hands flying to his throat and his eyes bulging.</p><p>“Stop!” Dean shouted, his hands falling on Nick’s shoulders and his face tautening with fear.</p><p>Sam acted automatically. He didn’t care about seeing Nick hurt, but the fact Dean was scared burned him. He grabbed Michael’s arm and twisted it, surprised that he had the strength to do it when he’d not been able to wield the blade against him before.</p><p>The pressure on Nick's throat dropped, and he staggered back against his mother, who cradled him and whispered reassurances.</p><p>Michael raised his free hand, fingers poised to snap, and said, “I don’t need parlor tricks, Sam, and you know it.”</p><p>Sam's heart raced, and he fixed his eyes on his family and bellowed, "Run!"</p><p>He wasn’t sure what reached them, the threat to Nick or his own order, but they turned and sprinted away. Nick stumbled slightly, and Dean put his hand on his elbow to support him.</p><p>Michael watched them go with an amused air. “Do you plan to stay here to protect them all the time?” he asked.</p><p>“You mean when I’m not hunting you?” Sam asked, braver now that his family were gone.</p><p>“You can’t kill me, Sam. Even at the peak of his strength, Lucifer was no match for me, and you’re nowhere near as powerful or skilled as him.”</p><p>“And you can’t kill me,” Sam said. “I already know whose hands will end my life.”</p><p>Michael sighed. “I see Death has been talking to you. She’s refused my calls. I didn’t expect her to hitch her wagon to you.”</p><p>“She knows me,” Sam said. “You’re the bigger threat.”</p><p> “Then why doesn’t she kill me? We both know she’s capable of it.”</p><p>“Because she knows that’s my job,” Sam lied.</p><p>Billie hadn’t given him any guarantees, but Michael didn’t need to know that.</p><p>Michael seemed surprised by the answer, and Sam thought he saw some fear in his brown eyes.</p><p>“Did she say whether I would kill your entire family first?” he asked.</p><p>“No, I already know that’s impossible with me alive. She did tell me one more thing, though. I <em>can</em> kill you when it’s time, but there is another way it could end. If I don’t kill you, if I find the other part to what I need, I can send you back to your world, so no one here needs to die.”</p><p>“Send me home…” Michael said thoughtfully.</p><p>Sam nodded, forcing himself to hide the sense of triumph he felt at Michael’s apparent acceptance of what he was saying. “God didn’t want you dead. If we can send you back to your world, he’ll let you live, and he'll leave me to live in this world without my family.”</p><p>“Why are you telling me this?”</p><p>Sam rolled his eyes. “I can’t lose Dean, and if you get his consent, that’s who I’ll have to kill. Just because he doesn’t remember, it doesn’t mean I don’t. I’d rather die than do that to him. I want this world safe, and I want you gone."</p><p>Michael looked pensive. “So, my options are to wait for you to send me back to my world, or to take Dean and focus on avoiding you?"</p><p>“You won’t be able to avoid me forever,” Sam said. “I will find you. Which is it going to be?”</p><p>“I… will think about it,” Michael said. “I’ll give you an answer when I have decided.”</p><p>“You know I’ll protect them,” Sam said. “If you come near Dean, I’ll hurt you. I can do that?”</p><p>Michael raised an eyebrow. “Will you really? You don’t have the strength now. How are you going to get more?”</p><p>“There are ways to get power,” Sam said with a smile that he knew would intrigue and confuse Michael, perhaps make him a little wary of Sam and the risk of going after Dean. “I know them all. Do you?”</p><p>Michael considered him a long moment and then nodded and said, “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Sam. I’ll be in touch.”</p><p>Before Sam could answer, Michael's tawny wings spread behind him, and he took flight away.</p><p>Sam stood for a moment, trying to calm himself, and then he heard Michael’s voice again, speaking just beyond the door that would lead towards the garage. "I owe you this, at least,” he said.</p><p>There was a cry of pain, and Sam started toward the sound, and then a bright pulse of power formed of blue-white light slammed into him, and he felt himself being yanked away.</p><p>He slammed into the ground, creating a deep crater in the rocky red dirt, and his head swam. He got to his feet and looked around. He was surrounded by rock monoliths and a clear blue sky with a scorching sun.</p><p>He’d never been here before, but he’d seen pictures so knew where it was. He was in the Utah Badlands, and unless he was much mistaken, he had just been banished for the first time in his angelic life.</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They skidded into the garage, Nick still struggling to keep his feet after his near-strangulation, and Mary ran straight to the car.</p><p>“In,” she ordered. “Get us out of here.”</p><p>“No,” Nick said, his voice rasping as he bowed over. “We’re not giving up our home to them.”</p><p>Dean eased him up by gripping his shoulders and looked into his eyes. “What? Nick, we’ve got to…”</p><p>“No!” Nick said again, his voice growing stronger.</p><p>He wasn’t abandoning the bunker to those monsters. This was their place, his and Dean’s, that was extended to include Castiel, Mary, and Jack over time. It was home. He wasn’t giving it to the archangels. And he wasn’t running from them.</p><p>“If they fight, they could bring the whole building down on us,” Castiel warned. </p><p>“Then go,” Nick said. “I’m not moving.”</p><p>It was irrational to be so attached to a place that he was willing to be buried underneath it if it came down on him, but it still felt important. He had a feeling deep in his gut that if he left now, he’d never be able to come back.</p><p>Dean grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the car, and Nick yanked free, stumbling slightly. “You go!” he shouted, the words tearing at his injured throat. “I’m staying.”</p><p>“Cas,” Dean said.</p><p>Castiel nodded and came at Nick with his fingers raised.</p><p>Nick stepped back and held up a warning hand. “If you touch me, you’ll regret it, Castiel.”</p><p>Castiel looked puzzled, perhaps at the unexpectedness of the threat. Nick was usually the one that defended others, not himself.</p><p>He wished they would go, get somewhere safe, but he couldn’t leave. He needed to be there to see what happened. More, he needed to hear what they were plotting together.</p><p>The need was intense, overpowering. He felt that if he wasn't there, it would end with them all dying. He started towards the door, and Castiel grabbed his arm again. Nick spun on his heel and swung a fist through the air, slamming it into Castiel's temple. Though he was weakened after Michael's assault, he was still strong enough with his rage to make Castiel stagger back a few steps and release him.</p><p>“Nick!” Mary said stridently. “What are you doing?”</p><p>“What I need to do,” Nick said, running through the door and slamming it closed behind him. He turned the lock and shoved a cabinet in front of it. A part of him knew this was stupid, trapping himself away from his family so he was alone with two archangels, but he couldn’t resist the compulsion to do it. The only way they were going to be able to fight was to know everything, it was the only advantage they’d have until Jack’s grace replenished, and he was going to seize it.</p><p>He walked back through the halls, coming to the door to the library that they’d left ajar and pressed himself against the wall, his ear close to the opening, and listened to Sam’s words. “And you can’t kill me. I already know whose hands will end my life.”</p><p>Michael gave a heavy sigh. “I see Death has been talking to you. She’s refused my calls. I didn’t expect her to hitch her wagon to you.”</p><p>“She knows me,” Sam said. “You’re the bigger risk.”</p><p>“Then why doesn’t she kill me? We both know she’s capable of it.”</p><p>“Because she knows that’s my job.”</p><p>“Did she say whether I would kill your entire family first?” he asked.</p><p>Nick frowned. Lucifer had no family apart from Michael since he’d killed Gabriel and Castiel had killed Raphael. And Lucifer had shown no affection for either of them. There were other angels, barely a dozen of them, but Nick didn’t think that was who Lucifer was referring to. Who was Lucifer’s family?</p><p>“No, I already know that’s impossible with me alive. She did tell me one more thing, though. I <em>could</em> kill you when it’s time, but there is another way it could end. If I don’t kill you, if I find the other part to what I need, I can send you back to your world so no one needs to die.”</p><p>Nick held his breath. Lucifer could send Michael back to his world? That would solve one problem. If they could have him do that, they would be able to concentrate on Lucifer alone, save the world that way. The work would be cut in half.</p><p>Bobby would never agree with it, that world still had people that were his and needed to be defended, but Nick wasn’t going to consult him. No matter how much he looked like their Bobby, he wasn’t him, and Nick had no emotional connection to him or his fight. He cared about protecting his family, his world.</p><p>“Send me home…” Michael said thoughtfully.</p><p>“God didn’t want you dead. If we can send you back to your world, he’ll let you live, and he’ll leave me to live in this world without my family.” There was something strange in Lucifer’s voice, some barely concealed triumph that Nick thought he only recognized because of years of hearing it around his screams in the Cage.</p><p>“Why are you telling me this?” Michael asked.</p><p>"I can't lose Dean, and if you get his consent, that's who I'll have to kill. Just because he doesn't remember, it doesn't mean I don't. I'd rather die than do that to him. I want this world safe, and I want you gone."</p><p>Nick’s pulse pounded in his ears, making it impossible for him to hear what else was being said. Dean didn’t remember… Didn’t remember what?</p><p>Lucifer had beaten Dean to a pulp in Stull. He'd tortured Nick in the Cage. Dean remembered all of that. He'd tricked Castiel into letting him out of the Cage, and he'd stolen Jack’s grace. None of that had been forgotten, so what was Lucifer talking about? And why did he sound so sad when he said it? It was as if what Dean didn’t remember hurt him, as if he’d forgotten something good between them.</p><p>There had never been good between them. There would never be good between them. Lucifer was a monster, and Dean hated him.</p><p>But Lucifer sounded so genuine.</p><p>It made no sense, but at the same time, it felt right to Nick. He didn't understand it; he knew Lucifer, what he was and what he'd done, but what he'd heard made him doubt himself and his certainty. Was it possible Lucifer had changed after all and that this was his true self now?</p><p>“I… will think about it,” Michael said. “I’ll give you an answer when I have decided.”</p><p>“You know I’ll protect them,” Sam said. “If you come near Dean, I’ll hurt you. I can do that?”</p><p>“Will you really? You don’t have the strength now. How are you doing to get more?”</p><p>Nick had heard enough. His mind couldn’t take in any more.</p><p>He yanked the penknife out of his pocket and roughly cut across his palm, going deeper than he needed in his haste. The blood flowed fast, and he used it to daub a sigil onto the wall.</p><p>“There are ways to get power,” Lucifer said, a smile in his voice. “I know them all. Do you?”</p><p>Michael considered him a long moment and then nodded and said, “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Sam. I’ll be in touch.”</p><p>Nick raised his hand to the sigil and was on the point of slapping it down at the center when a voice spoke behind him, and a blade pressed into his side, “I owe you this, at least.” </p><p>Fiery pain surged through him as the blade was slowly shoved through his skin and flesh, and he cried out. His legs weakened, and he heard a flutter of wings. He locked his knees and focused his wavering vision on the sigil. With a supreme effort, he brought his bloody hand to the center and pressed it down. He felt the light pulsing from it, and then his legs gave out under him, and he collapsed.</p><p>As unconsciousness descended over him, his mind fixated on two questions.</p><p>Why did Michael attack him, and why did he call Lucifer Sam?</p><p>xXx</p><p>“Dammit, Cas, shift it!” Dean ordered.</p><p>Castiel slapped his hand against the door handle and yanked on it. There was the merciful sound of the wood splintering, and then the door tore from its hinges.</p><p>"About damn time," Dean snapped. Then, he cursed as he saw the heavy cabinet Nick had placed in front of it. What the hell had he been thinking?</p><p>Castiel shoved the cabinet, and it flew away, giving Dean freedom to run past it towards the library. He had no idea what he was going to find when he got there, what Michael and Lucifer would have done to his brother, but he was going to find him, fix him, and then kick his ass for pulling this stunt.</p><p>He turned a corner in the hall and raced up a new one, with the footsteps of his family on his heels. He came to the end and then a strangled cry ripped from him as he saw his brother.</p><p>Nick was crumpled unconscious on the floor on his side, a bloody stain on the side of his shirt and a bleeding hand at his side. On the wall above him was a used banishing sigil.</p><p>“Nicky!” he shouted.</p><p>“No!” Mary gasped. “Is he breathing?”</p><p>Dean focused on the slight rise and fall of his brother’s chest and said. “Yeah, but it’s shallow.”</p><p>He dropped to his knees and tore off his shirt, sending buttons flying. He had barely got it off his shoulders, intending to use it to staunch the bleeding, all thoughts of Castiel’s power fleeing his mind in his panic, but the angel’s hands were already there. They pushed Dean aside and paused over Nick’s side at the darkest point of the bloodstain. Light glowed, and Dean watched Nick carefully, waiting for the color to flood his pale face, but it didn't come. </p><p>“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Why isn’t it working?”</p><p>“It’s a wound from an archangel blade,” Castiel said.</p><p>“You can’t heal it?” Mary asked, her voice chilled with horror.</p><p>“I can, but it will take time. I’ll have to do it in stages. Only another archangel could heal him without pause.” He straightened up and said, “I have attended to the most pressing concern, his liver laceration, and slowed the bleeding, but the internal injuries are still severe. I need time to recover my grace before I can do more. It may take a day for me to heal him fully from this.”</p><p>“But he’ll be okay?” Mary asked, a tremor in her voice.</p><p>Castiel nodded. “The most serious injury is treated. I can hold off infection, and the blood loss will heal itself with time. As long as he stays unconscious, out of pain and resting, he will be able to handle it.”</p><p>Dean patted Nick’s shoulder, feeling the reassuring solidness of his brother, and said, “Cas, help me get him to his room. I want his wound stitched up and him settled somewhere comfortable.”</p><p>Castiel eased his arms under Nick, and, with Dean's help, they got him up and carried him into the library and through to his bedroom.</p><p>Dean was wound tight with tension, and furious at Nick for putting himself in danger like that, running towards the archangels. But he would give him a pass if he’d get back on his feet fast and stop Dean feeling like he was choking on his worry.</p><p>It <em>would</em> be a pass, but he’d make sure Nick understood there was <em>never</em> a good enough reason to be stupid enough to trap himself and run toward the angry archangels again. That had been epically stupid and dangerous.</p><p>And it could have cost his life. </p>
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam had walked for hours, the sun beating down on him but causing no thirst or flush on his skin. He had consistently tried to stretch his wings to take flight, but they seemed frozen at his back.</p><p>He had walked miles before he felt them relax and stretch, making him sigh with relief. He could fly at last, and he knew where he needed to go next. Someone had been injured by Michael, he’d heard it happen just before he was banished, and if Castiel had also been banished, it meant there was no one there to heal them.</p><p>He took flight and came to rest outside the bunker. The door was still hanging crooked, so he stepped through and moved it back in place, straightening the bent hinges. He figured it would hold against anyone but an archangel, and it hadn’t been much defence against one before.</p><p>He walked down the stairs, treading carefully, and passed through the war room and library. There was no one there, and it made wings prickle with hope. If someone was dead, they wouldn’t be sitting around the library, drinking. They would be with them, taking care of them, dealing with what came next.</p><p>He hurried through the halls towards the bedrooms then came to a stop outside Jack’s room. The door was ajar, and Sam peered in and saw Jack sitting on the bed, staring blankly at the wall. Jack looked like he was hurting.</p><p><em>At least he’s alive,</em> Gabriel said. <em>And you and I both know who was stabbed. It sounded like a man in pain, and who would Michael have a grudge against if not Lucifer? Whose body doesn’t he need in tiptop condition?</em></p><p>Sam hurried along the hall towards what had been his own room and slowed as he heard voices, one of them the most welcome despite his personal feelings about what the angel had done to Bobby. Castiel hadn’t been banished, which meant he was able to heal whoever had been hurt.</p><p>
  <em>Which would be Nick.</em>
</p><p>“You should eat, Dean,” Castiel was saying. “Nick is going to be resting for hours. It’s better than he’s not awake and in pain.”</p><p>“You go,” Dean said dismissively. “I’m not leaving him alone.”</p><p>“He won’t be alone,” Mary said. “I’m here.”</p><p>Dean’s voice was angry as he said, “No! I’m staying!”</p><p>So, Nick was alive but injured. Had Castiel not been able to heal him properly? He’d not been able to heal the real Nick after Lucifer had been killed, but Sam had never been sure if he’d really been trying. Perhaps there was something about the injury from an archangel blade that stopped Castiel’s grace working fully.</p><p>He hesitated a moment and then made his move. He entered the room, drawing all eyes when the door opened fully, and held up his hands when Castiel drew his blade and Dean jumped to his feet, positioning himself in front of Nick’s bed.</p><p>On the bed, lay Nick. He was covered in a blanket, but his bare shoulders peeked over the edge and they were starkly pale. His breaths were even but not as deep as they should be. Sam knew the feeling of an injury pulling when you breathed, and he guessed Nick was compensating for that by keeping his breaths shallow, even while unconscious.</p><p> “I’m not here to hurt anyone,” Sam said, keeping his voice even. “I want to help.”</p><p>“Stay away from him,” Dean snarled.</p><p>Sam took a step forward, and Castiel came at him from the side, his blade poised to act. Sam waved a hand, throwing him into the wall to slide down to the floor with a pulse of energy.</p><p>Mary darted forward and made a grab for the blade that had dropped when Castiel was thrown back, but Sam was there first. He kicked it under the bed and then touched two fingers to her temple. Her eyes slid closed and she became boneless. Sam caught her and eased her gently to the floor with a murmured apology.</p><p>“Get your hands off of her!” Dean shouted, coming forward with hands fisted.</p><p>Not for the first time, perhaps not even for the thousandth time, Sam admired his brother’s bravery. He was coming at an archangel with nothing to defend himself but ineffectual fists.</p><p>Sam caught Dean’s arm and dragged him forward then sent him into unconsciousness with a touch of fingers to his forehead then laid him down on the bed beside Nick.</p><p>“What are you doing, Lucifer?” Castiel asked, struggling to his feet and to coming forward again.</p><p>Sam ignored the question and moved to the other side of the bed. He pulled back the blanket over Nick and searched for the wound. There was a white dressing on Nick’s right side, and Sam peeled it off and saw the red wound beneath. Someone had stitched it closed, probably Dean as it was his favored neat blanket suture.</p><p>“Couldn’t you heal him at all?” he asked.</p><p>There was an audible click as Castiel swallowed. “It was an archangel blade. I healed the most serious injury, but it needed stitches.”</p><p>Sam nodded. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do about them, too.”</p><p>He held his hand over the wound and concentrated on sending the grace into the wound. Light glowed and Nick drew a shaky breath.</p><p>“Lucifer, why are you doing this?” Castiel asked, his tone calmer than it had been, as if he was confident Sam wouldn’t hurt them now.</p><p>Sam moved his hand a little closer to the wound without answering and concentrated. It took a lot of effort, perhaps because of the archangel blade’s effect, and it was a moment before the stitches disappeared and the skin healed. Nick’s color returned and his breaths came easier.</p><p>Sam straightened up, his head swimming, and stared down as Nick’s eyes opened and blinked up at him. Sam saw the exact moment Nick realized who he was as he sucked in a breath, his eyes widening with shock and a little fear. “Lucifer!”</p><p>As Sam watched, taking in the face he hated but the difference in the awareness in the eyes, Nick tried to roll over, to get away, and collided with Dean.</p><p>“Dean!” Nick gasped, scrambling back against the headboard. “What did you do to him?”</p><p>“He’s just sleeping,” Sam said. “So is your mom.”</p><p>“He’s helping, Nick,” Castiel said tentatively. “He healed you.”</p><p>Nick’s hands fisted. “Why would you do that?”</p><p>For a moment, Sam was going to answer, to tell him that he wasn’t Lucifer, that this was all some twisted game of Chuck’s, but sense held him back. Nick wouldn’t believe him. It would just complicate things if they thought he was playing some game with them. They were going to have enough questions after what Michael had said to Sam while they were there, and he didn’t want to make it worse.</p><p>“Are you really Lucifer?” Castiel asked.</p><p>Sam’s lips parted with shock. “What?”</p><p>“Who else would he be?” Nick asked furiously.</p><p>“Sam,” Castiel stated.</p><p>Sam sucked in a breath. Did Castiel remember something? He was an angel; perhaps even Chuck’s power wasn’t enough to change the facts completely. Was it possible that there could be a solution to this situation?</p><p>“The vessel?” Nick asked, his brow furrowed.  </p><p>Sam’s heart sank as Castiel nodded. It wasn’t what he’d hoped for; it was just more confusion and wrongly drawn conclusions. Castiel didn’t see Sam for who he was. He just saw the possibility of the vessel Chuck had created for the story.</p><p>Nick stared up at him with hatred, the same hatred Sam had felt for Lucifer. He sighed. Nick was healed so there was no reason for him to stay. All that was happening was that he was hurting himself being around them.</p><p>He reached for Nick’s temple, moving closer when he cringed back, and sent him to sleep then turned back to Castiel. “Watch him,” he said. “I’m not sure I did enough.”</p><p>“Are you really Sam?” Castiel asked in return.</p><p>Sam stared at him for a moment and then shook his head, resigned to the fact it wouldn’t help. “It doesn’t matter.”</p><p>“I think it does,” Castiel said.</p><p>In answer, Sam spread his wings, wanting nothing more than to get away. He took flight, letting his instincts guide him, coming to rest at the top of a snowy peak he had no sense of geography for. He looked at the endless horizon and sighed.</p><p>He didn’t know what to do next.</p>
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you MaggieMay19 for beta’ing. Thank you all for reading. Sorry for the late update. I went away for the weekend as it was my birthday, and I forgot to prepare a chapter to post from my tablet.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dean stirred, and his eyes opened blearily. His mind was clouded at first, drowsy, and then the memories of what had passed rushed through his mind, and he jerked upright, his eyes roving the room.</p><p>“Nicky!”</p><p>“He’s in the shower,” Castiel said calmly from the doorway. “Your mother is awake, too. She’s making sandwiches with Jack. I think he sent you deeper as we couldn’t wake you.”</p><p>“Lucifer, you mean?”</p><p>“Yes,” Castiel said, though there was something off in his tone.</p><p>“Did he heal Nick?”</p><p>Castiel nodded. “He even managed to replenish the blood loss. I couldn’t have done that even if it was an ordinary injury. He’s completely healed now.”</p><p>Dean didn’t know why Lucifer had done it, but when he probed at the question, his mind shied away from it and returned to his brother. He needed to see him, to be sure he was okay, and then he could deal with whatever they had to do next.</p><p>Lucifer didn’t matter. Nick did.</p><p>He swung his legs around and got to his feet, feeling strangely energized after the enforced sleep. He walked from the room and made his way to the bathroom where he could hear movement. He pushed open the door and saw Nick rubbing his short hair dry with a towel.</p><p>He caught sight of Dean in the mirror and turned with a small smile. “About time you woke up.”</p><p>Dean crossed the room in long strides and threw his arms around his brother. He clung to him for a moment and then held him at arm’s length and shook him roughly.</p><p>“What the hell were you thinking?” he asked. “You could have been killed. You didn’t learn what Lucifer was capable of last time he had you?”</p><p>Nick ducked his head. "I know. I couldn't not do it, though. I can't explain it, but I needed to be there. I had to hear what they were saying. It seemed to matter more than anything."</p><p>“It was damn stupid! You risked your life for curiosity. You would have died if Cas hadn’t been able to heal your liver. It would have ended there. And then…” He leaned on Nick’s shoulders to steady himself. “What am I supposed to do if you die?”</p><p>Nick's face fell, and his eyes became full of misery. "You do what you have to do to keep going. You let me go and keep fighting.”</p><p>Dean snorted. “Like you would if it was me? You and I both know you wouldn’t. It’s not what we do, Nicky. It’s not what we’ve ever done. We fight for each other.”</p><p>“Not always,” Nick said, his voice steeped in misery. “And even when we do, it doesn’t always work out.”</p><p>Dean closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. He knew what Nick was talking about. When he’d been in Hell after his deal, Nick had spent months fighting to get him back, and when that failed, he’d spent weeks falling into a hole of revenge and bad choices. And when Dean had been in Purgatory, he’d stopped fighting completely. Nick had hidden away in some strange half-life with a dog and a job in a Texas motel. Dean had blamed him for that at first, hating that Nick had given up on him and not tried to find him, but he’d stowed that anger a long time ago and accepted that maybe that was just one time too many for Nick to keep fighting. It had just been too hard for him.</p><p>He opened his eyes and locked his gaze on Nick. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”</p><p>“I’ll do my best,” Nick said with a small and forced smile.</p><p>“No, you’ve got to do better than your best. You don’t put yourself in that kind of danger again. We can’t rely on Lucifer going for the hurt and not the kill again.”</p><p>Nick's eyes moved to the floor, and he muttered. "It wasn't Lucifer that stabbed me. It was Michael."</p><p>Dean’s mind spun with incomprehension. “<em>Michael</em>?”</p><p>“Yes. He said he owed me.”</p><p>“What the hell does he owe you for? You’ve never done anything to him personally.”</p><p>“I don’t know…” Nick shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, I guess. I’m okay now.” Though his words were reassuring, he looked troubled, and he stared. </p><p>“Mom’s making sandwiches,” Dean offered as a way to break the uncomfortable moment. “And we all need to talk.”</p><p>Nick nodded and rubbed his stomach. “Yeah, I could eat.”</p><p>He didn’t say anything about talking, which was odd, but Dean pushed it aside as Nick was dealing with the shock of everything that had happened. He’d not only been stabbed, but he’d also been healed by the archangel he hated more than any living being, too. Even seeing him was rough on Nick, so feeling some kind of debt to him would be even worse. Dean felt the same. He hated Lucifer for what he’d done to Nick in the past, and no amount of healing was going to make a dent in that.</p><p>They did need to discuss what they’d seen and heard, though. Michael had said more than enough to Lucifer to leave them with questions that needed answering.</p><p>Nick tossed the wet towel into the laundry hamper, and they walked to the kitchen together. Mary was putting sandwiches on a platter, and Jack was setting mugs and the pot of coffee in the middle of the table while Castiel stood watching them with a furrowed brow and thoughtful eyes.</p><p>“Coffee’s great, Jack, but I need a beer,” Dean said.</p><p>Nick skirted the table and took a six-pack from the fridge and pulled out a bottle to hand to Dean. Dean twisted off the cap and took a seat at the table, Nick sitting beside him, as Mary set down the platter and took a beer for herself.</p><p>Jack and Castiel joined them, and Mary said, "Eat first. Talk after."</p><p>Dean grabbed a sandwich and took a bite. It was peanut butter and jelly, a staple of his childhood, and it made him smile that Mary had shunned the cold cuts and cheeses Nick insisted on stocking for his sandwiches in favor of a memory.</p><p>As they ate, Castiel stared down at his steepled fingers, seemingly lost in his own world. Dean interspersed bites of his sandwich with swigs of beer, feeling his stomach welcome the food with relief. It had been hours since breakfast, and lunch had been skipped on account of Michael’s arrival.</p><p>The fear he’d felt when Michael arrived, the horror of seeing that awareness in that woman’s eyes, had become panic when he’d grabbed Jack around the throat and started choking him.</p><p>Michael had made no requests at first, just seeming to be enjoying hurting Jack, but when he’d offered his deal with Dean, Jack’s life for a vessel, it had been chilling.</p><p>He’d known he couldn’t say yes, it would give Michael even more power than he had in that secondary vessel, but the temptation had been real. He couldn’t swear that he wouldn’t have broken if Lucifer hadn’t arrived when he did and taken Michael’s attention from Jack.</p><p>Seeing someone he cared about in pain and at risk wasn’t something he’d ever get used to, and the need to protect was always so strong.</p><p>When Jack had eaten the last of the sandwiches and Mary was cupping a coffee in her hands, her beer drained, Castiel spoke up, and the tension in the room heightened. </p><p>“We need to talk about Lucifer.”</p><p>Nick flinched slightly, an unexpected reaction as he wasn’t usually so sensitive to the name compared to the angel himself.</p><p>“We do,” Dean agreed. “Okay. Lucifer…”</p><p>“He saved me,” Jack said. “And he healed Nick. Why did he do that?”</p><p>Dean glanced at Nick, expecting him to launch into a tirade about Lucifer playing a game with them, but he bit his lip and stayed silent.</p><p>“Honestly, I don’t know,” Dean said. “Maybe he was more interested in fighting Michael than saving you when he arrived, but why he’d come back to help Nick… I haven’t a clue.”</p><p>“Do you still think it’s a trick, Nick?” Mary asked.</p><p>Nick stared down at the bottle clutched in his hands, and then shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."</p><p>“I don’t,” Castiel said. “I don’t think it was ever a trick. I believe something far more confusing and unexpected is happening. Some of the things Michael said, added to what Lucifer did, make me wonder if he’s even the same man.”</p><p>“Who else would he be?” Dean asked.</p><p>“Sam,” Castiel answered.</p><p>There was silence for a moment as they all absorbed what he’d said, and then Jack asked, “Sam’s his vessel, right?”</p><p>“Yes. He was the man Lucifer took shortly after being freed from the Cage. He left him when Nick gave consent, but Crowley took the body and had him healed and perfected as a vessel again. I am not sure what his intent was at the time, though, as he least of almost anyone wanted Lucifer to come back and usurp his place as King.”</p><p>“Perhaps he thought it would be useful for a demon,” Mary suggested. “It would be a strong meatsuit if it was strong enough to hold an archangel.”</p><p>“Not so much,” Dean said, remembering how Lucifer had been rotting the vessel from the outside in, even with the demon blood he was chugging.</p><p>“The why doesn’t matter,” Nick said. “It’s what’s going on now that does. Cas, Sam was just a man; Lucifer is an archangel. There’s no way he’d be able to do the things we’ve seen Lucifer doing lately.”</p><p>“But Michael called him Sam,” Mary said thoughtfully.</p><p>“He did,” Castiel agreed.</p><p>“And if he was Sam, not Lucifer, it would explain what he’s been doing,” Mary went on. "He opened heaven, saved Jack, and healed Nick. He even healed Jack when he was taking his grace, leaving enough so that it could replenish on its own instead of taking it all. And after he did that…” She stared at Nick. “He told you to take it back. He was so confused, and he didn’t attack when Castiel stabbed him.”</p><p>Castiel caught Dean’s eye and said carefully, “He didn’t kill me in Heaven either.”</p><p>He hadn’t, Dean remembered, but he had said Bobby belonged to him. Sam had never even met Bobby. Obviously, it was impossible, but perhaps the shock of suddenly finding himself as an archangel had screwed with his thoughts and memories. Maybe believing he had some connection to them, the good guys, was what he needed to deal with the things Lucifer had done with him as a vessel. Nick remembered everything Lucifer had done when he was the vessel. Perhaps Sam remembered, too.</p><p>“Michael asked Lucifer if he had ‘his’ memories,” Jack said. “That makes it sound like it wasn’t really Lucifer anymore. And he talked about being with his family. And how the power was new.” He sucked in a breath. “If it’s not Lucifer, and he’s trying to help…”</p><p>“We can use him,” Castiel said, nodding.</p><p>Nick’s gaze snapped to the angel. “Use him for <em>what?</em>”</p><p>Castiel looked confused by the question. “To fight Michael, of course. He has an archangel’s power, at least a portion of it which will grow in time.”</p><p>Nick looked almost sick. Dean guessed he was thinking of what prolonged contact with Lucifer—or Sam—would be like. He would see the man that had tortured him, beaten him down within himself, whose hallucinations had almost killed him. That would be a new kind of hell for him, and Dean didn’t want him to suffer it, but he thought it might be the best plan.</p><p>They could leave Sam to hunt and find Michael alone, hope that he did manage it, or they could team with him and help him succeed. They had assets: Rowena, who had weakened Lucifer with magic, whatever tools Ketch could find them to use. They had Nick, a damn genius who could probably find a way to track the archangel. They had Castiel, who <em>was </em>an angel.</p><p>“What do you think, Nicky?” he asked.</p><p>Nick swallowed hard and answered quietly. “He said he’d rather die than kill you, Dean. I heard him when I was listening. He said a lot, other stuff that didn’t make sense...” He bit his lip. “He also said he had a plan to send Michael back to his own world. He didn’t want to kill him, but he was destined to do it if anyone could.”</p><p>“Why wouldn’t Sam want to kill him?” Jack asked. “He’s seen what Michael is capable of in the other world if he was watching with Lucifer, and he’s helped us.”</p><p>“Lucifer probably wouldn’t want to,” Nick said. “He didn’t in our world. And he made a deal with him in that other world. Sam would want to… I think that part was the trick. If this is Sam running the switches now, he’s had a long time to get used to the way Lucifer works. That’s why I thought Lucifer was tricking us with what he was doing. It’s what he does. But Sam could be doing the same.”</p><p>“Is there any way to know for sure, Castiel?” Mary asked. “Can you sense who is in control?”</p><p>“No, the grace I have seen in action is Lucifer’s, and it’s his true face I see, but if Sam has Lucifer’s grace, that is what I would see. I don’t know how we can find out for certain.”</p><p>Dean stared down at the tabletop, thinking hard, and then he looked up and said, “We can ask.”</p><p>“You want to summon Lucifer here?” Nick asked, his eyes wide.</p><p>"I don't want him here until we're sure," Dean said. "Not even then, really, but I think we'll have to. But we're not going to get an honest answer if it is still Lucifer in charge. We have to ask the one that did it to him. We have to ask Chuck."</p><p>“You really think he’ll show up?” Nick asked. “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve tried.”</p><p>“It’s our best chance,” Dean said. “If we knew for sure either way, we could work out a plan. Hell, he might decide to stick around and deal with Michael while he’s here.”</p><p>“Do you think he would?” Jack asked hopefully.</p><p>“No,” Nick said darkly. “He won’t kill his own sons, no matter how much they deserved it.”</p><p>“But he’d let us kill him?”</p><p>Nick shrugged. “I figure we go with hope and leave it there. He’s probably not going to show anyway.”</p><p>Dean cracked his knuckles and said, “Prepare to meet your grandfather, Jack.”</p><p>He bowed his head, feeling stupid but thinking the gesture might amuse Chuck enough that he’d show, and said, “Chuck, we need you. I’m not sure what you’ve been doing, what you’ve got going on, but I think you can help us out a lot by filling us in.” He raised his eyes hopefully and said, “Uh… Amen?”</p><p>There was no new presence in the room, no familiar voice that had once been an alcoholic writer that chronicled their lives and then became the most powerful being they’d ever allied with, and Dean felt disheartened and helpless. Then Nick gasped, and a different but still familiar voice spoke, “Dean…”</p><p>Dean’s head snapped to the right so fast he felt a jolt of pain that he disregarded at once as he saw the woman, or being, standing in the doorway. “Amara!”</p><p>He started walking towards her automatically, the draw to her as strong as ever, and then Nick grabbed his arm, and he stopped.</p><p>Amara fixed her eyes on Nick and then looked mildly amused. “Hello, <em>Nick</em>.”</p><p>“I take it Chuck’s not coming,” Nick said.</p><p>“No,” she replied. “He’s otherwise engaged. But I didn’t want to leave your prayer unanswered.” She fixed her disconcertingly intense eyes on Dean and said. “What do you need?”</p><p>“Uh, information,” Dean said. “Do you know what Chuck’s been up to?”</p><p>“I know it all,” she said, her eyes falling on Nick and then moving back to Dean. “I don’t agree with it, but I won’t interfere with his plan. There are only two possible outcomes, anyway.”</p><p>“Will you tell us what’s going on?” Nick asked.</p><p>She frowned. “Do you really want to know?”</p><p>“Yes,” Nick said emphatically.</p><p>She smiled but didn’t speak.</p><p>“Look, we’ve got a theory about Lucifer that we could use confirmation on,” Dean said. “We think Chuck swapped Lucifer with his vessel, Sam.”</p><p>Amara looked quizzical. “You think Sam is Lucifer now?”</p><p>“He’s not?” Castiel asked, obviously disappointed.</p><p>“No, he definitely is,” Amara said. “I just thought you would have stronger feelings about it. Especially you, Dean.”</p><p>“Why him?” Mary asked. “It’s Nick that’s got the biggest history with Lucifer.”</p><p>Amara closed her eyes, and a smile flickered on her face. "I see. That is strong. Well, yes, I don’t think he would mind me telling you this much as it doesn’t change the overall plan. Sam is now Lucifer. It was done as a punishment. Sam is a truly different being now.”</p><p>“Can we trust him?” Mary asked.</p><p>Amara considered the question a long time before answering. “If I were you, I would trust him. He always acted for the good of the world, at least he thought he did.”</p><p>“The good of the world? He gave consent to <em>Lucifer</em>!” Nick said stridently.</p><p>Amara fixed her eyes on him and said, “So did you. Your reasons were the same.”</p><p>“What does that mean?” Nick asked.</p><p>Amara turned away from him as if he hadn’t spoken at all and looked at Dean again. “You can trust Sam, you <em>should</em> trust him even, but you should be wary of others.” Her eyes flickered from face to face and settled on Nick. “You don’t know everything.”</p><p>“I know I don’t,” Nick snapped. “But I know enough.”</p><p>Dean didn’t think she’d been speaking to Nick. He had a feeling the words had been directed to him. Was she perhaps thinking of the difficulty Nick would have being around Lucifer’s vessel and how it would make him react?</p><p>Dean was concerned about it. He wasn’t sure if Nick would be able to face his personal demons, seeing Lucifer’s face, and still keep his head in the game for the fight.</p><p>However Amara said they could trust Sam, and he was their best weapon until Jack’s grace came back—maybe even after then. If Sam was destined to kill Michael, they were better off relying on him. There was Sam’s other idea of sending Michael back to his own world, but that would put more people in danger: Bobby’s people. </p><p>Dean didn’t want that. He wanted them protected and Michael dead.</p><p>“I wish you luck,” Amara said serenely and then disappeared.</p><p>“So, Lucifer is gone,” Jack said thoughtfully after a long period of silence. “That’s good.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Nick agreed. “It’s awesome. Now we’ve got to have his vessel hanging around.”</p><p>Mary reached across the table and patted his hand. “He won’t be here for long, and not until we need him. We’ll get the rest of the preparations in place first. Call Rowena back, have her gather whatever magic she needs. We won’t have him near you a moment longer than he needs to be.”</p><p>Nick nodded curtly and got to his feet. “I’m going to do some reading, too. There might be lore in the books that will help.”</p><p>Dean knew Nick wasn’t thinking of lore at all. There was none to be found that they hadn’t read before or learned from Castiel or in the years dealing with them. Nick wanted space.</p><p>Dean understood. Having Sam around was going to be tough on Nick. It was going to be tough on him, too. It was that face he imagined when he dreamed of what Nick might have gone through in the Cage. But it was what they had to do.</p><p>To stack the odds in their favor, they had to work with the devil’s own vessel.</p>
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you MaggieMay19 for your help</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam saw the cop cars outside the abandoned church when he arrived, and he sighed. He was going to have to work around several cops while he investigated the deaths he’d heard about on the police band.</p><p>It had been weeks since he healed Nick, and he’d focused on practicing his powers and tracking Michael. He thought Michael might make his presence known to humans—though they wouldn’t know what it meant—so he’d used old school methods of tracking hunts.</p><p>He went through the open door, and the stench of the room reached him. He didn't know if it was because he still wasn't working with his full grace or not, but he felt nauseous as soon as it hit him. It was repulsive. He’d spent a lot of time around death and corpses, and he was usually better at holding onto his gorge, but the stench of burned and rotting flesh was strong. He had no idea angels could get sick.</p><p>There were five cops in the room. Two of them were dressed in the jumpsuits of forensic investigators; one was taking photographs, and the other two uniformed patrol standing guard by the door, watching for potential rubberneckers at the isolated location. They all looked a bit green.</p><p>Concealed from their sight, Sam moved around them to examine the bodies. They were piled in a heap, so it was hard to tell exactly how many there were, and he tried counting legs to estimate them before a uniformed cop stepped back and bumped into him. </p><p>“What the hell was that?” the cop asked, his eyes moving back and forth over Sam, searching for what he’d felt.</p><p>“What was what?” another replied.</p><p>“I felt something there.”</p><p>Sam sighed. He needed to be able to look properly without working his way around them. He walked back to the man that was furthest from the bodies, one by the door, and touched his temple. The man dropped like a stone, unconscious before he hit the floor, and the others in the room rushed towards him, calling out in shock, and two of them drawing guns. What good they thought guns would be for a man who had—to all outward appearances—passed out, Sam didn’t know.</p><p>When they reached Sam, he quickly brushed his fingers over the foreheads of everyone in the huddle, knocking them out easily in a pile. He stepped around them and went back to the bodies. He didn’t want to move them too much as it would leave the cops with unnecessary questions, but he needed to check them out.</p><p>They were all obvious angel kills, eyes burned out, and he suspected he knew whose victims they were. There were three angels on earth the last time he’d spoken to Naomi: him, Michael, and Castiel. He didn't think Castiel would be killing people, though he supposed he should check, so he was pretty sure they were Michael’s kills.  </p><p>He lifted the head of one of the bodies to see the one beneath, wanting to check the eyes, but there was more to see than the burned eyes. The teeth that showed beneath the parted lips were familiar. It was a werewolf, though the teeth were larger than he’d ever seen on a werewolf before. There was also something strange about the way it felt to touch it. He felt a sense of home, the way he felt with Dean, though this place had no connection to his brother.</p><p><em>That's Heaven, bucko, </em>Gabriel said cheerfully.</p><p>Sam frowned as he considered. What would a werewolf have to connect him to Heaven?</p><p>
  <em>Boy, oh boy, you’re slow.</em>
</p><p>Sam ignored the smug voice and moved back and rubbed his hand to his pants leg to remove the tainted feeling of the dead creature’s cool skin.</p><p>Michael had killed a werewolf, but a werewolf unlike one he’d ever seen. Not even a pure-blood werewolf looked like this.</p><p>He raised his voice and called out to someone he thought might be able to explain. “Violet, I need to talk to you.”</p><p>She arrived silently and instantly, as she always did. “Yes, Lucifer.”</p><p>“Do you know what’s going on here?” he asked, gesturing to the werewolf.</p><p>She moved closer and frowned. “That’s a monster.”</p><p><em>She’s quick, </em>Gabriel said with amusement.</p><p>“It’s a werewolf, I know, but I’ve never seen one like this before,” Sam said. “Have you?”</p><p>“No, never. It’s an abomination. Its blood has been mixed with grace.” She looked Sam dead in the eyes. “An archangel’s grace.”</p><p>Sam’s breath caught. “Michael did this?”</p><p>“Unless it was you, yes.”</p><p><em>Told you it was Heaven,</em> Gabriel said. <em>You really need to start listening to me, buddy.</em></p><p>Sam ignored the voice. He wasn’t about to start engaging with the voice in his head. He wasn’t sure why he was hearing the dead archangel unless it was some facet of Chuck’s plan to screw him over even more, but the last time he’d engaged with something in his own head like that, he’d almost died from sleep deprivation.</p><p>“It wasn’t me,” Sam said. “But why would Michael give monsters grace? What would it do?”</p><p>She considered the question, her eyes roving over the bodies. “I can’t be sure. I don’t think it’s ever been done before. I imagine his plan was to enhance them somehow. It’s obviously not worked. They’re dead.”</p><p>“Obviously,” Sam muttered.</p><p>He mulled over the facts. If Michael was trying to enhance monsters with grace, it had to be to use them as soldiers. He’d had an army of angels in his own world, but there weren’t enough angels here to use. The few angels that were left were all in Heaven, no help to him. From what he knew about Michael, he guessed he wouldn’t want to work alone. Perhaps Sam’s warnings had reached him, and he was looking for protection. If the monsters could be given the power of an archangel, would they pose a threat to Sam? Even if they couldn’t hurt him, they could hurt other people. He had to do something about it.</p><p>“I need to tell Dean,” he said.</p><p>She looked puzzled. “Dean Winchester? Why?”</p><p>“Because if Michael finds a way to make it work, to enhance these monsters, Dean and all hunters are in danger. Hell, all humans are in danger.”</p><p>“Yes,” she said, her voice carefully controlled. “But why do you care?”</p><p>Sam pushed his hair back from his face and locked his eyes on her. “I’m not the Lucifer you remember, Violet. I’m nothing like him.” Her doubtful look told him she wasn’t convinced, and he went on, impassioned. “Billie is helping me. Do you really think she’d do that if I was a danger to the world? To Dean Winchester?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” she said. “She’s not exactly a fan of the Winchesters.”</p><p>“No, maybe not, but she sees they’re useful. She’s given Dean a free pass once, and you know she didn’t want that before she became Death. She wanted him and… Nick in The Empty, right?”</p><p>“She did…” Violet said thoughtfully.</p><p>Sam noticed the fear in her eyes that was always there when she was with him was fading and being replaced by confusion. He pressed his advantage. “I can’t tell you the full story since it will be impossible for you to believe, but you have to trust me, I’m really not who you think I am. I…” He trailed off as a low growl reached him. “Do you hear that?”</p><p>She nodded and looked at the pile of bodies that were inexplicably shifting. “There’s something alive under there.”</p><p>Sam shoved her back and stepped defensively in front of her. He had no idea what was alive under there, what kind of monster, but he wasn’t going to let her take the hits in his place.</p><p>The pile shifted, and then the bodies tumbled to the side as a male figure rose from among them and straightened. It was a vampire, though—like the werewolf—this was a creature of a kind he’d never seen. The fangs were elongated below the teeth, parting the lips in a smile that tugged up widely at the corners. </p><p>“Lucifer,” it sneered, words slightly muffled by the twisted shape of its teeth. “I’ve got a message for you.”</p><p>“Go ahead and give it,” Sam said, straightening his spine.</p><p>In answer, the vampire sprang into the air and landed on the balls of its feet, a yard in front of Sam.</p><p>Sam pushed Violet further back and squared his stance as something slipped into his hand. He lifted it and saw the long length of his archangel blade. His fingers tightened around it, and he pointed it at the vampire. His instinct was to kill it, to defend himself and Violet—though he didn’t know if either of them were really in danger—but he needed to question it.</p><p>The vampire came forward a step, and Sam pushed it back and brought the tip of his blade to its throat. “What did Michael do to you?” he asked.</p><p>It laughed maniacally. “He blessed me!”</p><p>“With grace?”</p><p>“Yes!” it said triumphantly.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“I’m his general. We’re going to be an army.”</p><p>It showed no sign of fear, it seemed happy to be talking even, and Sam guessed it was confident in its ability to survive the interaction. It made him nervous that he might be the one that was going to suffer from their meeting. He tried to push the thought away and concentrate on what he needed to know.</p><p>“If you’re his general, why did he leave you here?”</p><p>“For fun,” it said. "He told me what to do, and then I'll go find him.”</p><p>“What’s the fun?”</p><p>The smile grew impossibly, and it said, “You are. I get to enjoy myself with you.”</p><p>As Sam mulled over the threat, Violet shifted at his back, and his momentary distraction was the chance the vampire needed to strike. It shoved aside Sam’s blade and threw itself at him, its teeth snapping close to his face.</p><p>Sam didn't stop to think. He just shoved his blade into the vampire's gut and drove it forward until it was pressed against the wall. With a final thrust and the grinding of stone, he drove the blade into the wall, pinning the vampire like a bug.</p><p><em>Geez, remind me not to piss you off,</em> Gabriel said, a smile in his voice.</p><p>The vampire was panting with pain, and blood was seeping around the place the sword was in its gut, but it didn't look scared.</p><p>“Where is Michael?” Sam asked.</p><p>“You really think I’ll tell you that? If he kills you, it means I don’t get to.”</p><p>Sam twisted the blade, and the vampire snarled, almost drowning out the screech of metal against stone that Sam’s sensitive ears picked up.</p><p>“Michael wants you to kill Lucifer?” Violet asked, speaking up for the first time as she stepped around Sam to face the vampire.</p><p>The vampire turned hateful eyes on her and said, “No, it’s what <em>I</em> want.”</p><p>“Then what does Michael want?” Sam asked, giving the blade another twist.</p><p>When the vampire had calmed from its pained panting, it said, “He wants you. He has big plans.”</p><p>“Plans to do what?”</p><p>“I don’t know; I just know he wants you with him.”</p><p>“To kill me?” Sam asked.</p><p>“No, to work with him. He’s prepared to put aside the fight for a common goal. He wants the world, you want the world, you can have it together.”</p><p>Sam pondered the words. If the vampire was telling the truth, it meant Michael had believed what Sam said about being the one destined to kill him. And it meant he didn’t want to go home.</p><p>Sam hadn’t truly believed it would be that easy to deal with Michael, and he’d never planned to go through with it; he wanted him dead more than gone. If Michael was willing to deal, he might be able to use it in his favor. He could play along until he had his full strength and then strike to kill.  </p><p><em>Or it’s a damn trap, </em>Gabriel said. <em>Be smart, Sam. Would Mickey share power? And he knows who you really are. What could make him believe you’d give up the world when Dean is in it?</em></p><p>Sam shook his head briskly to clear the confusion. Michael knew he would never do that to Dean, so this <em>was</em> a trap. Had he left this monster for him on the off-chance that it might be able to kill Sam, left it with this ruse to make him pause and be vulnerable? Michael didn’t know him the way Lucifer had known him. All he had to gauge by was what he’d seen and what Sam had said.</p><p>“Say I do want to deal with him,” Sam said, “how do I find him to talk?”</p><p>Violet gasped, but Sam was too focused on convincing the monster with his lies that he ignored her for the moment.</p><p>The vampire’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll have to get this blade out of my gut for a start. I can take you to him.”</p><p>Sam thought for a moment. He couldn’t go to Michael to strike yet as he wasn’t strong enough to fight him. He wondered if there was a way to keep the vampire locked down until he was ready. If he could trap him somehow, he could use him when it was time.  </p><p>Before he could make the decision, Violet spoke up, “Lucifer, no…”</p><p>“Shut up!” Sam snapped.</p><p>She made a small pained sound, and he knew any progress he'd made convincing her that he wasn't Lucifer had been lost. She was convinced that was who he was now.</p><p>“What’s it going to be, Lucifer?” the vampire asked.</p><p><em>Kill it, Sam,</em> Gabriel urged. <em>You can’t risk locking it down until it’s time. If it gets free, it’ll be a massacre. And it really might be able to hurt you. It’s got archangel grace in it. I know it can’t kill you, but…</em></p><p>Sam paused one more moment and then yanked the blade out of the vampire and, before it could do more than stagger forward a step, he swung the blade into its neck, neatly decapitating it.</p><p>The pieces fell, and Sam turned to Violet. She looked scared, but there was something in her eyes that made the words he was going to speak die on his tongue. She was scared again, that was clear, but there was also a hint of hatred. She no longer saw him as just the devil that was powered-down. She was seeing him as the threat he had appeared to be, and she loathed him for it now that she thought he’d work with Michael.</p><p>It was worse than just losing progress as it was taking it further back. He hadn’t seen her as an ally exactly, she’d been scared of him, but he’d believed he could use her somehow when the time came. She would openly fight him now, and that meant other reapers might, too.</p><p>It was a complication that he didn’t need.</p><p>“You can go, Violet,” he sighed.</p><p>She nodded once and disappeared.</p><p>Sam looked around at the unconscious cops, the piled bodies, and just breathed for a moment.</p><p>He was going to have to warn Dean and the rest of his family about Michael’s monsters so that they could pass along the news to other hunters that they were out there. He had felt the strength of the vampire, and he was an archangel; Dean and the others would be even more vulnerable. They needed to find a way to deal with them. Decapitation had worked on the vampire, and he figured that was the safest bet for any others out there. The only thing he’d ever known to survive a decapitation was a leviathan, and he didn’t think even grace could make that possible for any other monster.</p><p>He spread his wings and took flight to the mountain peak he’d found after healing Nick. He’d been there a lot in the month since that had happened, and he’d found it peaceful. He was going to need the added peace with what he had to do next.</p><p>He closed his eyes and opened his mind to the voices of the angels that had been a murmur to him before. They became loud, and he reached out for a specific angel, “Castiel, are you there?”</p><p>There was nothing for a moment apart from the other voices that were only background noise, and then a tentative voice answered, "Sam, is that you?”</p><p>“Yes,” Sam said. “I need to talk to you.”</p><p>He expected hesitation or fear, but Castiel showed none. He answered quickly and confidently, “We need to speak to you, too. We have things to say.”</p><p>“Where?” Sam asked. “I’m not coming to the bunker.”</p><p>He wasn’t going to set himself up to be trapped. Lucifer had been able to negate the angel warded handcuffs when he was at full strength, but Sam wasn’t at full power. And there was holy fire. He needed to be free to fight, not locked down in the dungeon.</p><p>“Where would you feel more comfortable?”</p><p>Sam did a quick calculation in his head, thinking of a place he could get to before them but not somewhere he would have to wait a long time for them to arrive at. </p><p>“Glen Elder. I’ll be at the lake near the north docks. Come soon.”</p><p>“Okay, Sam, we’ll see you there.”</p><p>Sam withdrew to his surroundings again and prepared to take flight as something occurred to him. Castiel had called him Sam. He was still working with the theory that Sam was the vessel.</p><p>He wondered if there was a way to make that work in his favor.</p>
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<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It’s Thursday 10th September. Today the last scenes of Supernatural will be shot. I am feeling a lot of things, pride and sadness, gratitude and resentment. I didn’t expect it to hit me this hard, but it has. <br/>Supernatural brought some wonderful people, friendships, experiences, joys, and stories into my life. It also brought me all of you that are reading this story. <br/>I’ve been writing for Supernatural for 8 years and that was an adventure of twists and turns, highs and lows. This story and its sequel will probably be my last SPN works for a while as I continue my Marvel and Twilight series, though I have stories planned which I will come back to. Some of you have been with me since 2012 and Breaking Down The Wall. Some of you are brand new to my stories. I appreciate each and everyone of you. I’ve not had a chance to talk to you all, but the fact you’re reading means a lot to me. <br/>Thank you MaggieMay17 for beta’ing, Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny for pre-reading, and you all for being part of this SPNFamily which I have loved.   <br/>Enjoy this chapter while our wonderful cast and crew kick it in the ass one last time xxx</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Burgers,” Dean suggested.</p><p>“Winchester Surprise,” Nick countered.</p><p>Mary looked up from the laptop she was working on. “You want <em>me</em> to cook?”</p><p>Nick smiled innocently. “You’re the best cook.”</p><p>Behind her, Dean lowered the beer he’d been bringing to his mouth to give Nick an incredulous look. Nick winked back at him.</p><p>Mary wasn't the best cook; in fact, she was pretty awful, but she had one dish that Nick loved. Dean’s burgers were pretty amazing, but Nick loved the hominess of Mary’s cooking. He had no memories of eating Winchester Surprise as a child, and the time Dean tried to make it for him had ended with stony silence in the car for two days as John was pissed. But she sometimes made it for them now, and it was like Nick was grabbing at something he’d missed growing up.</p><p>Mary smiled indulgently and leaned across the table to pat his cheek. “You’re a damn liar, Nick, but I’ll make it if that’s what you want.”</p><p>“Thanks, Mom.”</p><p>Dean watched him a moment and then shrugged and formed his face into enthusiasm as Mary stood to face him. “Yeah, thanks, Mom.”</p><p>Mary beamed at him and then disappeared through the hall that would lead to the kitchen.</p><p>Dean took her place and pulled the laptop round. He considered the screen for a moment and then snapped it closed. “I vote for a night off.”</p><p>“A night off?” Nick said doubtfully.</p><p>Dean nodded decisively. “Yeah. We’ve been looking for any sign of Michael for a month, and there's nothing. We're finding nothing that's going to help in the lore. Rowena is starting to speak in tongues I’m pretty sure she’s learning from the Book of the Damned, and Jack and Cas are burned out working with Jack’s little grace. We all need a night off.</p><p>Nick knew what he was saying, even Rowena, who was probably the least motivated of them all, had been working her ass off since she got back to the bunker three weeks ago, but what they were doing was important.</p><p>Nick help up a finger, “First of all, Rowena isn’t speaking in tongues. That’s just the accent—”</p><p>“Thank you, Nicholas,” Rowena said bitingly, looking at him from the second table she’d claimed to set out the books and papers she was studying.</p><p>Nick grinned at Rowena and then became serious as he turned back to Dean and said, “Cas and Jack <em>need</em> to work with Jack’s grace. Cas says it’s like a muscle that needs to be used. <em>And</em> you can bet the moment we stop looking for Michael is the moment he finally makes his move.”</p><p>Dean held up his hands. “Yeah, all of that’s true, but we still need a night off. We’re fried. Even if we find Michael, there’s nothing we can do apart from avoid him and warn others to do the same. We don’t have the magic egg yet, we don’t have any weapon, and we don’t have Sam on board…”</p><p>Nick glowered. He accepted the plan of working with Sam, if that was who it truly was, but he wasn’t eager to start yet. He wanted them to have a plan in place first that they could allow him to join, not go to him and ask for help.</p><p>“Nicky…” Dean said, his voice consoling the way it was whenever the topic of Sam came up now.</p><p>“Not now!” Nick said harshly and then formed his face into enthusiasm. “Sure, we’ll take a night off. What are we going to do?”</p><p>He could tell Dean was considering pushing the subject, getting it all out in the open once and for all, but his usual reticence to get into difficult topics won out, and he said, "Poker.”</p><p>“Great,” Nick said. “I’ll go get Cas and Jack. You in, Rowena?”</p><p>“That depends,” she said. “Are we playing for hard cash or pretzels?”</p><p>Dean pulled out his wallet and checked the contents before sighing and saying, “Pretzels.”</p><p>Rowena smirked. “Then I’ll sit the game out.”</p><p>“That’s probably better,” Dean said as Nick got to his feet and made his way out of the room. “We all know you cheat.”</p><p>Rowena looked affronted. “I do not!”</p><p>Nick chuckled and shook his head as he made his way along the halls to the gym.</p><p>Maybe a night off was really what they all needed. They’d been working it for weeks with little downtime. He preferred to be working, studying the lore and running over everything they knew about Michael—which was little apart from what Bobby had told them—and Lucifer—which was so much more. The problem was that it probably wasn’t Lucifer they were dealing with. Castiel was sure it wasn’t, and the others believed him mostly, but Nick had his doubts.</p><p>It would be the perfect ruse for Lucifer to pretend to be his vessel, to get them to let their guard down. And if Sam <em>was</em> in charge, did that mean Lucifer was just under the surface waiting to strike again when they least expected it? Or was he somewhere else?</p><p>He reached the gym and stopped at the door, watching Jack as he concentrated his attention on the dumbbell he was levitating with a weak pulse of grace. Castiel turned to him and pressed a finger to his lips to indicate that he should stay silent, only speaking when the dumbbell dropped with a thump, and Jack breathed out hard.</p><p>“That was good, Jack,” Castiel said. “You’re doing well.”</p><p>“You really are,” Nick added. “It’s coming back even faster than I realized.”</p><p>Jack smiled though he looked weary. “It’s coming back, but I’m nowhere near as strong as I need to be.”</p><p>“You may not need to be that strong,” Castiel said. “If we can use Sam to stop Michael…”</p><p>Nick looked away. There was a chance Sam could stop Michael, a good chance even, but who was going to stop <em>him</em> when it was over? Even if it was Sam really, they couldn’t leave him running around with Lucifer just under the surface, waiting to take over and wreak hell again. Nick knew for a fact how hard it was to overpower an archangel. The fact that Sam <em>might </em>have done it this long was impressive, but he wouldn’t be able to do it forever.</p><p>He hadn’t discussed that with his family as he wasn’t sure they’d agree with him.</p><p>“I’d still feel better if I could do it myself instead of Sam,” Jack said.</p><p>Castiel opened his mouth to answer, and then his brow furrowed and he pressed a hand to the side of his head, his eyes closing. He seemed to be concentrating, and Nick recognized the look of someone tuned into angel radio. He waited expectantly for Castiel’s focus to come back to the room, wondering what he was hearing and what it meant for them.</p><p>Castiel's hand dropped, and he blinked a moment before saying, "That was Sam. He wants to see us."</p><p>Nick’s nerves prickled. “Why?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Castiel walked past Nick, his steps clicking along the hall.</p><p>Nick and Jack exchanged a glance before following him into the library, where Dean was leaning against the table and shuffling a pack of cards. </p><p>“Cas,” Dean said. “We’re having a poker night. You up for it?”</p><p>“I heard from Sam,” Castiel answered.</p><p>Dean's fingers loosened, and the cards slipped. He managed to catch them and dropped them into a pile on the table. "He spoke to you?”</p><p>“He wants to see us,” Castiel said. “There’s something he wants to tell us. I told him we wanted to see him, too.”</p><p>Dean glanced at Nick with an eyebrow raised, and Nick nodded. He was fine. He wasn't happy, he didn't want to do it, but that would still be the case in another month. If Sam had given them the opening to see them now, if he had something to tell them, they needed to go. He could handle it.</p><p>“Okay,” Dean said. “Have you arranged a place?”</p><p>“Glen Elder, at the lake.”</p><p>Nick was relieved Sam wasn’t coming to the bunker, seeing that face in his home was plain wrong, but if Sam had chosen the meeting place, it meant they couldn't get there to lay down protections before him. He would be there in an instant, and they would have to drive. </p><p>“Now?” Dean asked.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“I’ll get Mom.”</p><p>Dean started away to the kitchen, and Nick looked at Rowena. "We're going to need you. We can't lay down protections, so you're our only form of defense.”</p><p>Rowena looked amused. “Dear Nicholas, what makes you think I’m going anywhere near that monster.”</p><p>“It’s not Lucifer,” Castiel said. “It’s the vessel.”</p><p>“You <em>think</em>,” Rowena pointed out. “You have no proof. I trusted Lucifer once and ended up with my neck snapped. That was unpleasant but nothing compared to being immolated alive. I have no intention of putting myself at risk again. If you’re willing to risk your lives on a theory, go ahead. I’ll wait here in case you manage to survive and come back.”</p><p>Castiel stared at her a moment and then turned to Nick. “Are you willing to come?”</p><p>“Yes,” Nick said quickly.</p><p>He wasn’t comfortable with the idea, but there was no way he was sending his family off to meet the devil without him being there. He wasn’t really a threat at all against an archangel, but he was going to do his best to protect them.</p><p>Dean rushed into the library with Mary on his heels. She looked nervous, but Dean was animated. Nick knew his brother better than anyone, he could read him, and he knew Dean was excited. It bothered Nick that he was apparently convinced they were going to Sam and not Lucifer, worried him even. If Dean went with his guard down, he would be easy prey if Lucifer turned on them.</p><p>And if it was Lucifer, that was what was going to happen.</p><p>“Everyone ready to go talk to Sam?” Dean asked with enthusiasm</p><p>Though his eyes moved around the room as he asked, openly addressing the question to them all, when his eyes fell on Nick, it was clear who he was really asking.</p><p>“Yes,” Nick said, his jaw jutting out.</p><p>“No,” Rowena said. “I’m definitely not ready to be anywhere near him, so I’m not coming.”</p><p>Dean’s eyes widened. “You have to! Rowena, you’re the only one that can hurt him even a little if it is a trap.”</p><p>“I don’t believe it is,” Castiel interjected.</p><p>“You’re right, Dean,” Rowena said, ignoring Castiel. “I am the only one. But he can hurt me more than I can hurt him. And I only managed to hurt him when he was already weak.”</p><p>“He’s weak now,” Dean said.</p><p>“No, he’s just not quite at full power yet, but I’d bet he’s close,” Nick said. “Look how fast Jack’s grace is picking up.”</p><p>Dean shot him a sharp look, perhaps scolding him for adding to Rowena’s reasons to stay behind. Nick didn’t much care. He wanted them all aware of the risk they were putting themselves at.</p><p>“Fine,” Dean said. “I can’t make you come. I can’t make anyone come. All of you, if you’re coming, you’re doing it of your own free will. This might blow up in our faces.”</p><p>“It won’t,” Castiel said confidently. “Nothing he has said or done supports the idea that it’s Lucifer in control.”</p><p>“Apart from him choking me,” Nick said.</p><p>Dean’s face fell. “Nicky…”</p><p>Nick cut across him. “I’m coming, but I’m coming armed: holy oil and angel blades.”</p><p>“That’s not going to create an atmosphere of trust,” Castiel said.</p><p>“I don’t care. He's going to be armed, so we are, too." Nick strode out of the library to the storeroom, where they kept a backup stock of holy oil. There was already some in the Impala's trunk and angel blades, he wanted to take more than they could possibly need.</p><p>Anything to stack the odds in their favor if this went wrong.</p>
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<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you MaggieMay17 for beta'ing, Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny for pre-reading. Thank you all for reading.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam heard the Impala approaching long before it came into sight. It was followed by Mary’s car, and both were moving at a steady pace, neither seeming to rush, which he assumed meant they were wary.</p><p>It would be stupid for them to not be on guard with him, and none of them were stupid. He was pleased that they were playing it smart; it meant they would be with Michael, too, if they faced him. He wanted to do this without them if he could.</p><p>When the cars pulled to a stop and they climbed out, he did a quick headcount. Dean and Nick climbed out of the Impala, and Jack and Castiel got out of Mary’s car with her climbing from the driver’s seat.  They gathered, and he heard Mary's murmured reassurance to Nick that he answered with a growling, “I’m fine.”</p><p>He guessed Nick was the most nervous of all of them. Sam's face he saw as the devil that had tortured him the same way Sam saw his as the face of the creature that had put him through almost two centuries of hell in the Cage. It felt strange to see Mary’s concern for her ‘son’ though. It reinforced what he should already know: Nick was their family now.</p><p>It was hard to bear, but he had to push it away and focus on what mattered.</p><p>Sam didn’t feel fear when he first saw Nick taking the lead towards the trunk—he knew Nick was no threat to him anymore—but that was until he saw Nick grab the duffel from the trunk and take out an angel blade, instructing Dean, Mary, and Jack to do the same. Then he took two beer bottles with rags sticking out of the tops, and Sam winced. He had seen what a holy oil Molotov could do to an archangel before.</p><p>They would be a risk with those as weapons, but Sam still wasn’t properly scared. He could fly away before any of them got close enough to hurt him. He also thought the fact they’d wanted this meeting would protect him. If he was in their place, he’d want to come with something to defend himself, too. </p><p>When they were all armed, Jack and Mary carrying the molotovs, they started towards him, Nick taking the lead and Dean quickly falling into step at his side.</p><p>Sam waited with his empty hands at his sides, watching their faces carefully. Nick looked defiant, which Sam thought was his way of hiding the fear he was feeling, and Dean kept chancing glances at his brother. Mary and Jack looked nervous. Only Castiel seemed calm. If Sam had to guess, he would say Castiel was the one championing Sam as an ally instead of a threat. That made sense with Castiel’s guess about him being the vessel, not the devil.</p><p>When they were a few yards from him, they came to a stop in a line facing him, and Castiel took a step forward and said, "Hello, Sam."</p><p>Sam nodded. “Castiel. Dean, Mary, Jack… Nick.”</p><p>Nick flinched and then quickly stiffened, perhaps angry at his body’s automatic reaction.</p><p>Sam had made a mistake putting emphasis on his name, but it had been unconscious. Looking at that face among the ones he loved was wrong on many levels, most of all, the place where his heart longed for them to know him for who he really was.</p><p>Mary brushed her hand against Nick’s, and he yanked it away, not wanting to seem weak, Sam guessed.</p><p>“There are things I need to tell you,” Sam went on when no one spoke.</p><p>“We’ve got questions first,” Dean said. “And since you see them, I’ll tell you we are <em>all</em> willing to use these weapons. You touch one of us, we’ll make sure you’ll pay for it.”</p><p>Sam held up his hands, palms facing them. “I didn’t come here to hurt you. I came to help.”</p><p>Nick glowered. “Why should we trust you?”</p><p>“You trust me enough to come here, so we’re already halfway there.”</p><p>“I don’t trust you,” Nick stated.</p><p>Sam could say the same in return. He didn’t trust any of them not to attack him, not completely, but he did trust Nick in a different way. He trusted him with the most precious thing in Sam’s world—his family.</p><p>A part of him hated that, but another saw the positive of it, even though he hated it.</p><p>It wasn’t Nick’s place with them that gave him that trust. Nick loved them. Sam had seen that in the way he’d set himself in front of them defensively in the bunker, the way he’d looked at them. Worse, he saw they loved him, too. He really had taken Sam’s place.</p><p>“I think this would be easier if we could establish who we are talking to,” Castiel said. “You are Sam, not Lucifer?”</p><p>Sam nodded stiffly. “Yes.”</p><p>“How?” Dean asked.</p><p>“I’m sure you have your theories already,” Sam said.</p><p>“We do, but we want to hear your version,” Dean answered.</p><p>Sam took a breath and launched into his carefully prepared tale. “Lucifer upset Chuck. They had a… disagreement… and Lucifer found a way to hurt him.”</p><p>“What was the disagreement?” Dean asked.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter,” Sam said.</p><p>It did matter, but they’d never believe that part of the truth. He couldn’t tell them he was the one that upset Chuck, when he shot him, as it would destroy their belief that he was Sam. He could tell them Chuck was playing a game with them, that they were a story, a show to watch, but they wouldn’t believe that.</p><p>He wouldn’t believe it in their place. He had needed to see the real truth in Chuck’s eyes when he’d been claiming the opposite; when Sam’s first suspicions had caused him to question Chuck’s motives.</p><p>Chuck had played his part well in the contact they’d had with him before. Also, if Sam tried and managed to plant even the smallest seed of doubt in them, Chuck might come back to steer the story again. He said he was letting Sam control his own actions, but if the story took a direction he didn’t like, Sam was sure he’d intervene.</p><p>“I think it does,” Mary said.</p><p>Sam’s eyes drifted to her, and he thought he’d failed to keep his longing from his expression as she frowned, and Dean's eyebrows rose.</p><p>“Lucifer was upset that Chuck abandoned him,” he said. “And when they met again, he lost his temper. He attacked Chuck. It was a show of anger, not a practical threat, but Chuck acted in return. He yanked Lucifer out of the vessel and left me behind with grace.”</p><p>Castiel jolted as if given an electric shock. “Lucifer isn’t in there with you?”</p><p>“No,” Sam said.</p><p>He’d decided that would be a part of his story as it would cancel out the risk that they would come for him because they thought Lucifer would take control again. From the look on Castiel’s face, he’d made a mistake.</p><p>“Then where is he?” Nick asked, his eyes narrowed.</p><p>“With Chuck and Amara,” Sam said, sharing the next part of his carefully prepared plan. “Chuck is trying to… rehabilitate him.”</p><p>“So Lucifer is with his dad, getting a second chance, and you’re the one running the switches now?” Dean asked skeptically.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Why didn’t you tell Michael?” Nick asked. “He knows you’re Sam, right, so why didn’t you explain?”</p><p>“He knows who I am,” Sam agreed. “But I didn’t tell him everything because he didn’t need to know. I am only telling you because I figure you deserve to know. Lucifer did as much to you as anyone.”</p><p>Dean glanced at Nick, his eyes dark with pain, and nodded. “He did.”</p><p>“But you have an archangel’s grace,” Castiel said, his tone indicating that he wanted to bring them back to the topic at hand.</p><p>"Yes. Well, some of it. It's coming back slowly. I had more, but I… lost some." He shot Jack an apologetic look. “I don’t have yours. I can’t give it back.”</p><p>Jack looked pained, but he nodded.</p><p>“How did you lose it?” Dean asked.</p><p>“Chuck took it. I guess he didn’t want me fully-powered from the beginning. I was a wildcard.”</p><p>“Because you let Lucifer in?” Jack asked, speaking up for the first time.</p><p>“No, because an archangel has immense power and needs to learn how to control that power,” Castiel said. “Am I right?”</p><p>Sam nodded. “I had help from Violet. I’ve got a handle on it now. And it is coming back.”</p><p>"Okay," Dean said slowly, clearly working through the information and trying to make sense of it. "Lucifer is in rehab with Chuck, and you've got the power now. But why?”</p><p>“Why what?” Sam asked.</p><p>“Why leave you with power? What are you to him?”</p><p>Sam hesitated before offering up the next part of his story, wondering if it would be accepted. “Because he doesn’t want Michael destroying this world. He won’t kill his own son—”</p><p>“We know,” Nick growled.</p><p>“But he needed someone to stop Michael,” Sam went on. “I was his choice.”</p><p>“Why you?” Castiel asked. “If he needed an archangel to fight Michael, why not give that power to Nick or Dean? Or to me? Why did he let Jack lose his grace? Or was that you?”</p><p>Jack fixed his eyes on Sam, and he had to fight the urge to squirm with the intensity of dislike Jack was feeling for him. It was so wrong. Jack was like a son to Sam. He loved him, and he’d known Jack had loved him, too. That was all gone.</p><p>“It was Lucifer,” Sam said. “The moment we were exchanged was at the point at which I healed Jack. Chuck took me back in time to make the switch, from my point of view. Lucifer had already taken Jack’s grace and killed you all in my timeline. I'd seen it happen from within Lucifer. After that happened, Lucifer attacked Chuck. Chuck chose the moment Lucifer took Jack's grace and exchanged us then. Everything froze, and then I found myself in control. I was confused and healed Jack automatically."</p><p>“Why did you attack Nick?” Dean asked.</p><p>Sam offered up an answer that was closest to the truth, “I thought he was Lucifer. Nick was the only other vessel I’d known Lucifer take. I saw him and thought he had done it to me. It wasn't until later that I saw Chuck again, and he explained what had happened.”</p><p>“But why you?” Mary asked. “Why not my sons? They have proven they can save the world. You were just a man that gave consent.” She shot a look between Dean and Nick and said, “I’m glad he didn’t, they’ve already given too much, but they would have been the obvious choice.”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Sam said. “Maybe he wanted to give me a chance at redemption. I was the one that screwed up. I hear God’s thing is redemption.”</p><p>Dean snorted. “Not so much.”  </p><p>Sam held up his hands. “Look, I don’t know what else to tell you. I don’t have the answers you need to these questions. If you want information, ask Chuck. He can explain more than I can. I’m as lost as you are. I didn’t ask for any of this. My time with Lucifer was… hell.”</p><p>He swallowed hard as the force of emotion rose in his throat. He wasn’t lying. Lucifer had been a nightmare to him for almost two centuries, and that wasn’t negated at all by the fact they didn’t know the truth of it. It was still Sam’s life.</p><p>Perhaps his show of emotion reached them as they all seemed to share a moment of communication in shared looks, and then Dean cleared his throat and said, "Okay, you're Sam, not Lucifer, we believe you. But you do have Lucifer’s power, and you're supposed to stop Michael?”</p><p>“I <em>will</em> stop Michael,” Sam said. “I’m the only one who can.”</p><p>“You know that for a fact?” Nick asked. “Because you told Michael you can send him home, too. I heard you.”</p><p>“I lied,” Sam said. “I will be the one to kill Michael, that’s set-in-stone. I told him I could send him home because I needed more time. I am not strong enough to fight him. I needed longer for the grace to replenish.” He sighed. “I still need that, but there’s something more pressing for the world than me killing him. He’s got his own plans that you need to know about if you’re going to protect yourselves and others.”</p><p>Dean looked nervous. “Another apocalypse?”</p><p>“Perhaps. He’s been experimenting with monsters, giving them grace to power them up.”</p><p>“He’s giving them <em>grace</em>?” Castiel asked, aghast.</p><p>Sam recognized the reaction Violet had also had to the ‘abominations.' He supposed it was something about being a true divine being with that history that made it so much more shocking to them.  </p><p>“Yes. There were bodies of werewolves and at least one vampire, but I didn’t check out all the bodies. I think they were experiments that failed as they looked like angel kills. The vampire that survived, though, was stronger than anything I’ve seen since Michael himself.”</p><p>That wasn’t technically true, it was nowhere near as strong as Amara, but since they didn’t know he’d had contact with her himself, he couldn’t use it as evidence.</p><p>“I questioned it and killed it, but it wasn’t an easy kill. If you come up against one, and I think you will if Michael carries on making them, you need to be prepared. I killed the vampire by decapitating it, and I think that’s your best bet against any other grace-powered monster you face. They’ll look different to the ones you’ve fought before; their teeth are bigger. You need to warn other hunters, too.”</p><p>They all looked moderately horrified at the idea of super-monsters, which pleased him as it meant they would take them seriously.</p><p>Dean pulled himself together first and spoke. “Why is he making them?”</p><p>Castiel answered before Sam could. “He will want troops. He had a legion of angels in that world. There are so few of us left here. If he is anything like the version of himself of this world, he will want to command others. If it means giving his own grace to monsters, he will do it, even though it goes against every instinct of an angel, let alone an archangel that witnessed creation.”</p><p>“Awesome,” Dean said. “We’re going to be facing an army of super-monsters as well as the crazy archangel.”</p><p>“You’re not facing Michael,” Sam said. “All you’ll do going after him is make it easy for him to kill you. He wants Jack and you, Dean. He’s got a vessel, but you would be a stronger one for him. And he wants to punish Jack. You have to stay away from him. Leave him to me.”</p><p>“You want us to take a knee and let you handle it all?” Nick said incredulously.</p><p>“I want you to live!” Sam snapped, his worry for the people he cared about shredding his patience.</p><p>Nick seemed to be verged on the edge of speech for a moment, wanting to ask something perhaps, but with a sideways glance at Dean, he clenched his jaw and remained silent.</p><p>Sam wondered if it was something to do with what he’d overheard when eavesdropping on him and Michael before Michael had stabbed him. He would know Michael thought he owed him that attack. Did Nick remember what he’d said, or had the trauma driven it from his mind?</p><p>Did Nick have suspicions he wasn’t sharing with his family? Was it possible he knew who he really was on some level? Did he have his own voice whispering the truth, the way Sam had Gabriel’s?</p><p><em>Hey look, Sam, here are some more straws for you to grasp at,</em> Gabriel said, his amusement obvious.</p><p>Sam pushed aside the snide words, knowing it wasn’t the time to let the voice of a ghost distract him, and said, “You need to stay away from Michael, keep yourselves safe, and leave me to deal with him.”</p><p>“Okay,” Dean said. “We’ll trust you on this, but you’ve got to share information. Anything you learn, we want to know it, too.”</p><p>“And you’ll do the same in return?” Sam asked.</p><p>“We will,” Castiel said.</p><p>Sam smiled his satisfaction. “If you need me, pray. I’ll be listening.”</p><p>They each nodded and shifted nervously, perhaps wanting to get away from him now they had what they needed from him.</p><p>Sam spread his wings and took flight, coming to an empty beach. He stared out at the ocean and considered what he was going to do next. He needed to find Michael and stop him, but he needed to build his strength first.</p><p>He needed to be ready for the fight when it came, whenever that was, and hope that Michael couldn’t cause too much destruction in the meantime.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So… How was that? I really enjoyed writing it, even though it was a strain to have Sam and Dean together but with no connection. I hope you enjoyed reading it.<br/>Until next time…<br/>Clowns or Midgets xxx</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you MaggieMay17 for beta'ing, Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny for pre-reading. Thank you all for reading.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You ready for this?” Dean asked as they climbed out of the car.</p><p>“Sure,” Nick said, adjusting his tie and smoothing his hair in the side mirror of the Impala.</p><p>“You’re pretty enough,” Dean said. “We’re here for a case, not to find you a date.”</p><p>Nick rolled his eyes. “I’m checking I look fed enough to pass. You might want to do the same. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time I found a date in the morgue.”</p><p>Dean snorted as they met at the front of the car and started towards the building. “That’s not the kind of thing you brag about, Nicky.”</p><p>Nick punched his arm. “You know what I meant. Remember the ME in Boston? I had a great week with her after meeting over the cadaver of a werewolf victim.”</p><p>“I remember she called for a month after we left town.”</p><p>Nick sighed. “Yeah, she did. Shame. We had a good thing going on. Unfortunately, Amara was more pressing than keeping in touch with her.”</p><p>Dean grinned. He and Nick had very different approaches to romance. Nick would find someone in a town they were working and stay with them the duration. Dean had never really settled with anyone for more than a weekend—Cassie being the only exception. There’d been a couple he might have gone longer with, like Lisa Braeden, but his life had never fit with hers and her son’s. The one time he’d considered it, going to her, he’d had other orders to follow.</p><p>When Nick had been in the Cage, Dean had thought about going to her, having a place to hide and deal with his grief, but Nick had given him instructions for when he was gone: keep fighting. Dean spent the year without Nick hunting and searching for a way to get him back. He’d had no idea at the time that Nick was also hunting, just without a soul.</p><p>It still amazed him that Nick had managed to be on the road with the Campbells without him hearing about them. Even Bobby had been oblivious. Castiel had been more concerned with fighting his war and cozying up with Crowley to set Dean up with his brother again.</p><p>“I’ll let you have first dibs on anyone we find this time then,” he said.</p><p>Nick raised an eyebrow. “You think I need your permission to snake any girl out from under you?”</p><p>Dean pointed a finger at him. “Okay, that happened once, and I was never that set on her. She chewed her nails. That’s unhygienic for a nurse.”</p><p>“It wasn’t her nails I was interested in.” Nick leered. “It was what she kept under her scrubs.”</p><p>“I’ll make sure Mom hears about that little remark.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t!”</p><p>Dean winked and pushed open the door to the small hospital that housed the morgue.</p><p>Nick hurried in after him, grumbling about dick brothers and bro codes, but quickly became serious as they passed a woman walking toward them with a clipboard held to her chest.</p><p>She looked them up and down, taking in the suits and sober expressions, and asked, “Can I help you, gentlemen?”</p><p>“Agents Brookes and Hamilton,” Nick said, presenting his badge and holding it out to her. “We’re looking for the morgue.”</p><p>Dean forced his displeasure to not show at the fake name as he withdrew his own badge and held it out to her. Nick chose the lamest aliases for their FBI covers when it was his turn to make up the new badges. Dean liked his little jokes of using his music icons as aliases. Nick preferred to play it straight and professional.</p><p>One of them had style, and it definitely wasn’t the youngest Winchester.</p><p>She examined their badges and said, “Of course. Take the elevator down a level and turn left. You’ll find the morgue at the end of the hall. Our ME is Doctor Vance.”</p><p>“Thank you for your assistance,” Nick said formally.  </p><p>They walked to the elevator, and Nick kept his back straight and head high until they'd entered the car and the doors had slid closed behind them when he relaxed his posture and said, “Vance sound like a woman’s name to you?”</p><p>Dean was amused, as always, by the easy way Nick shifted between personas on a job. He was dangerous facing a monster, every inch the professional when playing fed, and in the times between, he became the brother that Dean knew and loved. They were equals on the hunting field, both getting the job done, but Nick was the best when it came to acting. Dean couldn't move between faces the same way.</p><p>It was good to see Nick relaxing again. He’d been highly strung since the trouble with Lucifer started. Seeing Sam, hearing his story, had cemented in all their minds that Lucifer was gone and that they had an ally in the form of his vessel. Dean knew it was still hard for Nick to see Sam’s face and not see Lucifer’s awareness in the eyes, but it was better now.</p><p>The fact they had a case to work, just the two of them like old times, was working for him as much as it was Dean, too. It was their first hunt in the three weeks since they’d met with Sam. It also felt good to be out of the bunker. Things were tense there, especially with Nick spending long hours alone in his room with books of lore and ignoring knocks on the door.</p><p>Dean was pleased that he seemed to be doing better now that they were out and working. “You do know surnames are unisex, don’t you?” he asked.</p><p>“Smartass. I’m going with female. If I’m wrong, I’ll do laundry for a month.”</p><p>“Ironing included?” Dean asked.</p><p>“Like I don’t prefer doing that anyway? I can tell the difference between starch and beer, unlike you. I’ve told you that it’s hard to pull off the fed act when we smell like we’ve rolled out of a bar.” He narrowed his eyes. “Which is why you do it, I know. But yeah, I’ll wash your dirty Underoos and ghoul-brain spattered flannels if I’m wrong.”</p><p>The doors opened, and Nick straightened again and strode out as Dean hurried after him and hissed, “I don’t wear Underoos.”</p><p>Nick didn’t even acknowledge him. He just walked along the long corridor towards the double black doors at the end. Dean matched his pace, trying to smooth his expression into neutrality as Nick came to a stop and then pushed them open and entered.</p><p>There was a desk with two filing cabinets behind it and four hard, plastic chairs against the wall. Sitting at the desk was a kid with blond hair that Dean thought would have been spiked up if not for the liberal amounts of gel slicking it back. He guessed it was the kid’s attempt at looking older than his baby-faced features indicated.</p><p>“Hello. Can I help you?” he asked, his voice bobbing.</p><p>He was either even younger than Dean tagged him at, or he was a late bloomer whose voice hadn't yet settled into the deeper tones of adulthood.</p><p>Dean remembered Nick at this age, how he’d been so embarrassed by the process of his voice breaking that he’d become practically mute for a few months. Dean probably hadn’t helped, but it had been too damn funny to resist teasing him.</p><p>“We’re from the FBI,” Nick said, flashing his badge again. “We’re here to see the Jane Doe that was brought in yesterday.”</p><p>The kid’s eyes widened. “You mean the one with the eye thing?”</p><p>“The missing eyes?” Dean asked.</p><p>The kid nodded eagerly, then blushed. "I was filing the paperwork when the photo dropped out, honest. I wasn't snooping in there. My dad doesn't like me in there with the stiffs. I mean deceased, yeah, the deceased.”</p><p>Dean's lips twitched with a smile, but Nick's face remained stony. "Yes, we wish to see the deceased.”</p><p>“I’ll tell my dad,” he said. “I mean Doctor Vance.” He blushed again. “Look, I’m here to do the filing to help my dad out since he busted me sneaking out for a party. You won’t tell him about the photo thing, will you?”</p><p>“Or the stiffs comment?” Nick asked.</p><p>The kid’s face fell. “Yeah, that.”</p><p>“We won’t tell him,” Dean reassured him and then asked the question that was puzzling him. “How old are you anyway?”</p><p>“I’m a junior.”</p><p>“In high school, right?” Nick said pointedly. “So, you're pretty young to be working in a place like this."</p><p>The kid rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’m not really supposed to be here. The hospital thinks I’m just doing my summer reading out here. You won’t tell them, will you? I don’t want my dad getting into trouble.”</p><p>“We won’t tell anyone,” Dean said before Nick could speak. “But we need to see that body now, so if you could…”</p><p>“Yeah, sure.”</p><p>He pushed back his chair and walked around the desk to the doors that Dean assumed led into the morgue. He pushed it open and called, “Dad, there’s some agents here to see you. Shall I… Dad!” </p><p>The shock in his voice made Dean push past him and enter the morgue. The man he assumed was Doctor Vance was on the floor beside the stainless-steel table with a covered body on it. He was unconscious, but Dean couldn’t see a sign of injury.</p><p>He crossed the room and bent to the doctor to check his pulse, finding it strong and steady. He looked around in time to see the kid’s knees buckle, making him drop, and something unseen catching him and lowering him gently to the floor.</p><p>Nick pulled his gun, and Dean did the same. He had two explanations for what he was seeing, and one of them was very bad—though with the way the kid’s fall had been softened it was unlikely.</p><p>“Michael?” he said uncertainly.</p><p>"No," a voice replied, and Sam appeared standing beside the kid. "It's me."</p><p>“You knocked him out!” Nick said, a bite of anger in his voice.  </p><p>"He's sleeping," Sam said. "I don't have the ID or suit to play at fed like you. I just needed a minute with the body, so I came in with stealth.”</p><p>“Yeah, knocking people out is real stealthy,” Nick said.</p><p>Sam narrowed his eyes. “I’ll wipe what happened from their memories, too. I’m not hurting them.” He walked away and pulled back the sheet on the body on the table then shook his head as a male face was revealed. “Not it,” he muttered.</p><p>Nick moved back and came to stand beside Dean, his gun still held in his hand, as Sam went to the wall of steel doored fridges.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” Dean asked.</p><p>Sam answered without turning, his attention on the labels in the doors. “I heard a suspicious body had been found and came to check it out.”</p><p>He opened the door he’d selected and pulled out the tray that held a sheet-covered body. He pulled back the sheet and revealed a woman’s face with charred voids where her eyes had been. He tugged up her lip and pressed down on the gum.</p><p>“Here we are.”</p><p>Dean moved closer to look as a much longer than usual fang appeared, overlaying the normal-looking teeth. “Vamp,” he said.</p><p>“One of Michael’s experiments,” Sam added. “But there was only one.”</p><p>“What difference does that make?” Nick asked.</p><p>Sam covered the body again and pushed the tray back inside. "When I found the first scene, there were a bunch of them. I've tracked two more cases, and they all had more than one body left behind. Michael has either started taking one at a time, or he’s getting closer to perfecting the method.”</p><p>“How did you hear about the others?” Nick asked, his tone hostile. “We’ve been looking for signs.”</p><p>Sam slammed the door closed and said, “I have more freedom of movement than you, and I have someone helping.”</p><p>“Who?” Dean asked.</p><p>“Violet. Reapers monitor the souls going into Purgatory, too. She gave me the heads-up that there were some passing through and where they were coming from. This is only the second in the US. The others were in Rio and Moscow.”</p><p>Dean’s eyes widened. “You’ve been to Russia?”</p><p>“You don’t need a passport when you’ve got wings.”</p><p>Sam smiled at Dean as he said it, something strange in his eyes. If Dean didn’t know better, he would have said it was affection.</p><p>“And that’s not the point,” he continued. “What matters is that these monsters aren’t just in the USA. Michael is spreading them out, which means a lot of people all over the world are in danger, and there are hunters that aren’t going to know what they’re going up against. And we have no way of warning them.”</p><p>“We’re no help there,” Dean said. “We don’t have contacts out of the States.”</p><p>Sam nodded thoughtfully, seeming to consider something, and then he said, “But the Men of Letters might.”</p><p>Nick stiffened. “The only other Men of Letters we know about are those British bastards, and we’re not going anywhere near them.”</p><p>Sam looked oddly sympathetic. “No, you really shouldn’t. But maybe I could.”</p><p>“What about Ketch?” Dean suggested. “We could ask him to help contact them.”</p><p>“He’s a marked man to them,” Nick pointed out. “We can’t send him to his death just to pass on the news. And…” he gave Dean a pointed look, “he’s busy.”</p><p>“Busy doing what?” Sam asked.</p><p>“It’s…” Dean started, but Nick cut across him, saying, “Nothing you need to know about.”</p><p>Dean was confused by Nick’s reaction. They hadn’t discussed Ketch since meeting Sam, and he’d not been in touch. In truth, Dean had forgotten about him and his mission. It wasn’t like they needed the pulse generator now they had Sam to kill Michael, and since he said that was set in stone, it was basically taken care of already. Why was it a problem for Sam to know about it?</p><p>Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “If you want to go to the Brits, we can’t stop you.” He sounded a little annoyed about that fact. “But don’t expect us to help.”</p><p>Sam shrugged. “Okay. I’ll do it. Maybe they’ll have operatives in other countries. I’ll be in touch.”</p><p>“Wait!” Dean said.</p><p>Sam looked at him, that strange fondness in his eyes again, “What do you need, Dean?”</p><p>The way Sam’s voice curled around his name, as if it mattered to him, made Dean uncomfortable.  </p><p>“How’s your grace doing?” he asked. “Will you be ready for Michael soon?”</p><p>Sam shook his head. “I don’t think so. I don’t feel as strong as I did immediately after we were switched.”</p><p>“You had Jack’s grace then, too,” Nick pointed out. “You might be ready.”</p><p>“I did…” Sam shrugged. “You two be careful and shoot me a prayer if you come across any of Michael’s monsters. Don’t go after them intentionally.”</p><p>“We won’t,” Dean said.</p><p>Sam walked to the doctor, unconscious on the floor, and touched his forehead, and then moved to the kid and did the same. "They'll be out a little longer, and they won't remember anything of the last half hour or so. Might be less; I'm not exactly practiced at this. Either way, they won't remember you, and that's what matters. You should get out of here."</p><p>“Okay,” Dean said. “Be careful out there.”</p><p>Sam stared into his eyes for a moment, almost as if he was searching for something, and then he disappeared with a faint fluttering sound.</p><p>“Be careful?” Nick asked with a raised eyebrow. “What was that about?”</p><p>Dean shrugged. “I don’t know, just felt right. Besides, he’s the one we’re relying on to stop Michael. We need him in one piece to do that.”</p><p>Nick frowned. “I guess.”</p><p>“You guess what?” Dean asked. “What’s going on? Why did you cut me off about Ketch?”</p><p>Nick looked incredulous. “Because we don’t want Sam knowing we’re going after a weapon that can stick him in the Cage.”</p><p>"We're not, though," Dean said. "We need him."</p><p>“We do now…” Nick started walking away.</p><p>Dean grabbed his arm and turned him. “We’re not sending Sam to the Cage, Nick. Why would you even want that? He’s helping us. Hell, he’s saving the world.”</p><p>Nick considered a moment. “Yeah, I know. It just feels right to have a backup that he doesn’t know about.” He pulled free. “We probably won’t need to use it.”</p><p>Dean watched him walk from the room, feeling a strange heaviness in his chest. Something about the idea of sending Sam to the Cage felt wrong, painful. Apart from as an ally and way to stop Michael, Sam was nothing to any of them, himself included, but for some reason, the idea of him being in the place of pain and torture the way Nick had been, hurt him. </p>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Chapter 21</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam tucked in his wings as he arrived outside the vast, white-stone building with its age-worn sign, the inset gold lettering announcing it as Kendricks Academy.</p><p>He’d found it after some research in a London library, much to his surprise. He’d thought the Men of Letters’ Hogwarts would be more discreet, and he’d expected to need to dig deep. Instead, he'd found an article describing the mysterious school in Hampshire that had the lowest pupil intake of every public school in the country. Families vied for a chance to send their children to the select academy with its impressive exam result statistics, but it was usually only the children of an alumnus that were taken. They called those children 'legacies', which had made Sam smile. They were legacies, just not in the way the article had assumed. The Men of Letters members usually followed a family line.</p><p>Sam walked up the stone steps to the door, still concealed from sight. He imagined the place would have impressive security, and as he wanted to find the way into the inner sanctum, he would need to be unnoticed until he actually wanted to be seen.</p><p>The double doors opened, and two students, one a boy of around fourteen and a younger girl, exited. They were wearing black tailcoats and white shirts and cross ties, and both looked tense as they discussed some examination they had taken.</p><p>Sam let them pass him and then put out a hand to the door just before it could close and slipped inside. A strange heaviness settled over his chest as he entered, and he rubbed his sternum. He thought it was perhaps some kind of warding. He spread his wings and flexed his arms. His wings moved freely, and he felt no resistance to his movements. He supposed that the protections they had in place weren't enough to slow an archangel.</p><p>He walked deeper inside and looked around. There was a wealth of wood on display. The walls were paneled, and the staircase to the right was dark with a red carpet running up the center. The tables and display cabinets looked like mahogany, and all held what looked like antique ornaments.</p><p>On the wall opposite was a richly varnished board with small gold plaques on them. Sam examined them, seeing names and dates. The one that caught his eye was a newer one bearing the name Doctor G Hess – Headmistress.</p><p>This was obviously the memorial wall of former members. There were fewer names than he would have expected, and he guessed that they were the members that had died in the line of duty. His guess was confirmed when he saw the neatly lettered Latin inscription at the top — <em>Gloriosae Pretio Officium.</em> The glorious price of duty.</p><p>Sam smirked. Doctor Hess’ end hadn’t been glorious. It had been a fitting death for a bitch like her, delivered with a bullet to the head from Jody’s gun.</p><p>He scanned the other names, looking for others he knew, and found Renny Rawlings, the man Eileen had accidentally shot when trying to kill Dagon. There was no sign of Mick Davies or Toni Bevell. Sam figured that Mick's assassination wouldn't end with a memorial, and Toni Bevell had been left for dead along with Sam and Dean when they locked down the bunker.  </p><p>There were other students milling around in their formal uniforms, and Sam moved carefully around them to the stairs. He thought he would start on the top floor, what would probably be called a penthouse to them, and work his way down. He imagined the most senior staff would be on a level which offered the best views of the vast lawns and surrounding countryside. </p><p>As he started towards the stairs, an old-fashioned bell rang, and the students began to rush away from the hall in various directions. Sam assumed it was a call to class.</p><p>He waited for them to go, tucking himself into a corner so none of them would brush past him, and then started up the stairs. He reached the fourth floor and smiled. The carpets here were thicker, and the art on the wall looked older and probably more valuable. </p><p>He scanned the doors leading off the long hall and spotted one at the end with a brass plaque declaring it as the office of the headmaster. He didn't bother to wait for someone to enter or exit this time; he just spread his wings and flew the short distance to the office.</p><p>The room was large and as opulent as any British Palace he’d seen on TV on the rare occasions he got control of the remote as a child and could watch documentaries. He used to love them, especially those about other countries and monarchies, as they showed him a world he would never inhabit, even if he’d been born to the normal life he’d longed for. It made him feel that his situation wasn’t so different from the kids he’d wanted to hang with back in school. None of them could ever hope to have that kind of life either.</p><p>There was a large oak desk with a green blotter and matching shaded lamp whose glow fell on the stack of papers in front of the grey-haired man that sat behind it. He was writing in perfect calligraphy on a sheet of thick paper which looked like a letter. He showed no signs of hearing Sam's arrival; perhaps it was drowned out by the opera that was playing on the discreet speakers set into the wall.</p><p>Sam just watched him for a moment and then made himself visible and cleared his throat.</p><p>The man looked up, irritated for the instant before he got a good look at Sam, and his color faded.</p><p>“Oh,” he breathed.</p><p>Sam smiled. “I’m assuming you know who I am.”</p><p>The man nodded. “Lucifer.”</p><p>“Yes,” Sam said. “And I come here with a warning.”</p><p>The man's hand dipped beneath the desk, and Sam heard a low hum. Like the alarm at the veterinary office, he guessed it would be imperceptible to a human's ear.</p><p>“That was stupid,” he said.</p><p>“What was stupid?” the man asked innocently.</p><p>“Tripping that alarm. I told you I came here to give you a warning. I didn’t come to attack. If I wanted you dead, you would be dead already.”</p><p>“You don’t want me dead?” the man asked hopefully.</p><p>Sam narrowed his eyes. “You know, you’re pretty weak compared to Hess. She was at least slightly scary. I couldn’t see her cringing from me.”</p><p>His words seemed to reach the man, gird him, and he jutted out his jaw and said, “As you know, the alarm has been tripped. Within moments a group of armed operatives will be here. You should pass on your warning before they arrive. I can’t account for their actions.”</p><p>Sam smirked. “You know what, I think I’ll wait for them to arrive. You could do with a demonstration of my power if you’re going to be able to take me seriously.”</p><p>The man clenched his teeth, but his eyes were scared.</p><p><em>You’re enjoying yourself,</em> Gabriel said gleefully. <em>It’s about damn time you found some fun with this whole thing, Sam. I get that you miss your family, but being an archangel is a pretty potent thing that can be exploited for good times. </em></p><p>Sam walked forward and tapped his fingers on the table. “They’re taking their time. You sure it was the attack alarm you set and not one asking for a cup of tea?”</p><p>The man swallowed hard, and then a look of relief spread across his features as the door flew open, and twelve people wearing gas masks rushed inside. They weren’t armed with guns. Instead, they had strange bronze cylinders in their hands that they threw at Sam’s feet. The man behind the desk grabbed a gas mask from a drawer and yanked it over his face.</p><p>“Now!” he commanded, his voice muffled by the mask.</p><p><em>“Libero!”</em> another muffled voice shouted, and Sam watched as grey smoke began to pour from the canisters. It rose in the air, and he hesitated between taking flight away and staying. Before the decision could be made, he felt the gas reach his lungs on an indrawn breath, and his head swam. He tried to spread his wings, but they felt loose and weak at his back, and when he tried to take flight, they fluttered uselessly.</p><p>Cursing his mistake, he tried to walk away, but his legs gave out from under him, and he crumpled to the floor. His eyes fell closed, and he felt his breath weaken. He felt no panic, he was sure whatever concoction the Men of Letters could come up with wouldn’t do him real damage, and they couldn’t kill him—that was Dean’s task. He felt consciousness slipping away, and he wondered how long it would hold. How long he was going to be delayed here before he could deliver his message and get back to America.</p><p>He decided he didn’t like England.</p><p>xXx</p><p>When awareness came back to Sam, he was lying on a concrete floor and felt warmth against his skin. He opened his eyes to see flames dancing in front of him.</p><p>He pulled away from it instinctively and looked around. He was in a circle of what he was sure was holy fire and surrounded by men and women in black suits that would look, without the oxford ties, like the uniforms the students had worn. Apparently, Kendricks had a theme.  </p><p>He got to his feet and turned on his heel, facing the headmaster that he’d spoken with before.</p><p>“You didn’t need to do this,” he said conversationally.</p><p>The man smiled, much braver now. “My name is Doctor Graves, and I believe we needed to do exactly this. We know who and what you are, Lucifer, the kind of threat you pose. We have been prepared for you since the first apocalypse.”</p><p>“If I’d known, I would have come sooner,” Sam said. “Wouldn’t want to keep you waiting when you’re clearly such friendly and reasonable people.”</p><p><em>Nice,</em> Gabriel said appreciatively.</p><p>“What was in the gas?” he asked.</p><p>“A spell we’ve never tested on an archangel before,” Doctor Graves said. “Never having had the opportunity. I plan to ensure that the Old Men know who to praise in weapons development for this success.”</p><p>“How did you know to bring it?” Sam asked. “You can’t have known I was coming.”</p><p>“On the contrary, we knew you would come eventually and that you or your brother were the only beings capable of breaching our defenses. The alarm I tripped was specially designed to alert security to an archangel incursion. Incidentally, there is also one to request tea, but that’s on the desk itself. No need for subterfuge with that.”</p><p>“And what are you going to do next?” Sam asked. “I know you can’t kill me.”</p><p>“No,” Doctor Graves agreed. “But we can do something I think you’ll find worse. We understand it’s almost impossible for you to find a vessel that is suitable, the only one that can contain you is the oafish Winchester. All information indicates that he'll never give you consent again. We can make you helpless."</p><p>He stepped to the side, revealing a table with a familiar egg-shaped object on it. It was a Hyperbolic Pulse Generator, the same kind they’d used to get Lucifer out of the President.</p><p>He wasn’t sure what would happen if they banished him. Was his body him, the man he had been? Did it house his soul still, or was that gone and replaced with grace? There might be a way for them to kill him, the real him, and leave him as disembodied grace. What could he do then? There would be no one to stop Michael.</p><p>“You don’t need to do this,” Sam said, fighting to keep the stress from his voice. “I only came to deliver a message.”</p><p>Doctor Graves smiled. “I don’t think you did, Lucifer. You came to attack.”</p><p>“I really didn’t. Why would I have waited before killing you if I wanted you dead? I came to talk.”</p><p>Doctor Graves held the pulse generator to the woman standing beside him and said, “Would you like to do the honors, Findlay?”</p><p>“Yes, sir,” she said formally and then shot Sam a satisfied smile.</p><p>She held it up and started the chant that Sam knew would expel him. <em>“Vade retro.  Princeps Inferni…”</em></p><p>Sam waited to feel something more than fear of what might happen. Lucifer had seemed to suffer when they expelled him from Rooney, but there was nothing apart from a vague tugging in his chest that was uncomfortable but not painful.</p><p>As Findlay continued her chant, Sam relaxed. It wasn’t going to work. Perhaps because he was an archangel that didn’t belong, hadn’t started out that way, or because Chuck had done something to seal him inside, they couldn’t force him out.</p><p>Grave looked wary, which became fear as Findlay finished her chant, <em>“Mah tay, ez loh, say tah!”</em> and nothing happened.</p><p><em>Yep, Dad knew what he was doing,</em> Gabriel said.</p><p>Sam straightened his spine and said, “Well, since that crapped out, do you want to let me go?”</p><p>“So you can kill us all?” Graves asked, his tone defiant but his eyes scared.</p><p>“So I can give you my warning and get out of here,” Sam corrected. “I don’t plan to kill anyone.”</p><p>There were nervous murmurs around him, and Findlay shifted from foot to foot.</p><p>Sam sighed. “Fine, I’ll wait for the fire to burn out. I’ve got nothing pressing to worry about, like killing Michael before he can unleash his new army of monsters on the world.”</p><p>“Michael? An army?” Grave asked warily.</p><p>“Yes!” Sam said emphatically. “An army of super-powered monsters. He’s been dosing monsters with grace. They’re stronger than any other monsters I’ve seen, and so far, I've traced them to Moscow and Rio as well as The States. Michael could be spreading them all over the world. That is why I came—to warn you so you can tell the hunters and chapters in other countries. You have other foreign chapters, right?”</p><p>Graves nodded. “We do.”</p><p>“Then get on the phone and tell them,” Sam said. “They need to know, <em>hunters</em> need to know, that the only surefire way to stop them is decapitation." He narrowed his eyes. "Think you can remember that, or do you need me to write it down?"</p><p>Graves looked annoyed, "I can remember, thank you, but what does Michael have to do with it? I thought he was trapped in the Cage."</p><p>Sam’s eyes widened. “You seriously don’t know? I thought you guys were tracking everything we did.”</p><p>“We lost the ability to track with the death of Lady Bevell. We’ve had no news from across the pond since Nick Winchester’s incursion and massacre at our American base of operations.”</p><p>Sam sighed. "Okay, get me out of this fire, and I'll tell you everything.</p><p>Graves looked doubtful. “I’m not sure that is safe for us.”</p><p>"It is," Sam said. "What is not safe is pissing me off. Let me out, and I'll talk. Make me wait, and I'll find a way to tell the other chapter houses without you."</p><p>It was an idle threat, but he was getting annoyed. Being inside the fire was disconcerting, knowing how close he was to pain, and he wanted out.</p><p>Graves nodded and indicated to one of the men behind Sam. He slipped out of the door and then came back inside with a fire extinguisher. He checked Graves' face once more, received a nod in return, and then aimed the nozzle at the fire and sent a jet of foam at it, dousing the flames. </p><p>With a wave of relief, Sam stepped out of the circle, over the white foamy area, and approached Graves. “Do you know there are millions of other worlds, different universes, to ours?”</p><p>“We have theories about it,” he replied.</p><p>"Good," Sam said. "That simplifies things. In one of those worlds, there was an apocalypse that Michael won…"</p><p>He hurried through the words as he shared the story of the other world and what had happened there to Graves’ and his team’s careful attention. He wanted it over, he wanted the other hunters out there warned, and then he wanted out.</p><p>He <em>really </em>didn’t like England. </p>
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<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Chapter 22</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Nick had been to the store to stock on necessities for the bunker, notably toilet paper, beer, and the cereal Jack liked so much. He’d enjoyed the trip, doing something normal when everything else was so crazy for them, and his thoughts had been peaceful. They weren’t always. His mind often returned to Michael and dwelled on what he had said to him, what he had done to him. </p><p>He had no explanation for why Michael would feel he owed him a stab wound, and he was a little scared of finding out.</p><p>He parked and climbed out of the Impala, then grabbed the grocery bags from the trunk and slammed it closed. They weren't heavy, but they were awkward, and he had to open the door out of the garage with his elbow. </p><p>Voices reached him before he got to the library, Dean’s and Castiel’s. Dean's was pitched with stress, and Nick heard his own name mentioned. </p><p>“You could have given Nick time to get back so we can warn him he’s coming, Cas.”</p><p>“Why?” Castiel asked. “Sam is no threat to any of us, including Nick.”</p><p>“Yeah, but he looks like Lucifer, so it feels like he should be.”</p><p>Nick sighed and sped his pace to them. He’d heard enough to figure out what was happening. He walked into the library and set the bags down on a table. Dean spun to face him, looking a little guilty and Castiel seemed confused.</p><p>“Sam’s on his way over?” he guessed.</p><p>“Yes,” Castiel said. “He said he has something that can help us.”</p><p>Nick wanted to escape, to excuse himself for the duration of Sam's visit, but he'd heard enough from Dean to know he thought Nick couldn't handle being around Sam, which made him look weak. He didn’t want Dean thinking that.</p><p>He wasn’t weak. He’d faced Lucifer and won twice. He’d been prepared to be trapped in the Cage again rather than give Lucifer consent and freedom again. He wasn’t going to be intimidated by seeing his damn vessel. Just because he looked like Lucifer, it didn’t make him a threat.</p><p>Nick gritted his teeth as a deep sense of unease swept through him. Sam was an archangel, and that alone was a threat, but he was on their side – for now. Nick had struggled with that at first, unable to truly believe, but he did now. He’d heard the story of what Chuck had done, and the evidence of Sam healing Jack and what Michael said backed it up. How long would that last once Michael was dead? And Castiel and Dean couldn't see it, they could only see Sam dealing with Michael, not what could happen afterwards.</p><p>“I better get the groceries put away then,” he said, his tone neutral.</p><p>He carried them out of the room and into the kitchen where Rowena was rooting through a cupboard, and Jack was sitting with his head in his hands. Neither of them looked at him as Nick entered.</p><p>Nick set the bags down and nudged Jack’s shoulder. “What’s up, buddy?”</p><p>“Lucifer,” Jack said dourly, his face still hidden.</p><p>“What about him?”</p><p>“I heard Dean and Castiel talking. He’s coming here.”</p><p>“No, <em>Sam</em> is coming,” Nick corrected. “There’s a difference.”</p><p>Jack looked up at last. “I know that, I do, but when I see him, I see Lucifer. Don’t you?”</p><p>Before Nick could answer, Rowena slammed the cupboard door closed and said, “Of course you see him! That’s not his true face, of course; you and I know that, Nicholas.” She shot Nick a dark look. “I <em>know</em> Sam is the vessel, the innocent one and whatever other drivel Castiel spouts, but that’s the face of the angel that beat me to the point of death and then set me on fire to finish the job.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I was aware of every moment of that thanks to my little slice of resurrection magic, and it was Sam’s voice that spoke and laughed while it happened.”</p><p>Jack ducked his head again and said, “See? It feels like him. Seeing him when we were talking by the lake, even with you all there with me, I felt like I was just waiting for him to attack any moment.”</p><p>Nick sighed, grappling for a way to comfort the kid when he understood exactly how he felt as it was the same for him. “We need him,” he said, the closest he could come to reassurance. “He’s going to stop Michael.”</p><p>Jack squeezed his eyes closed. "I hate that. If I'd been faster, I could have done it before Lucifer stole my grace. I took too long, and he got away. Then Lucifer took it, and now I'm…" His hands fisted. "I'm useless!"</p><p>Nick put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and said, “You’re not useless. You’re getting your grace back. You’re probably stronger than Cas now. You just need more time.”</p><p>Rowena rolled her eyes. “No offense, Nicholas, but you have no idea how it feels to be us. I am a witch, a <em>powerful </em>witch with the total freedom of that power. I can use it to save my life from anything, but I can’t stop myself from dying. There are apparently two threats to me in the world. One, you, doesn’t worry me as I’m sure it will happen when it’s time. Lucifer…” She shuddered. “I am helpless against him, and he wanted me dead even before I did anything to earn it.”</p><p>Nick had rarely seen her like this. Rowena was usually the definition of strength and passion. Now she was showing her fear, and it hit him properly for the first time that he wasn't the only one that had nightmares about Lucifer and what he was capable of. Castiel had taken the true experience of the Cage from Nick, saving his life, but he couldn't take the memories, and they were what haunted him. He remembered the pain, the cruelty, the endless wish that he would die, and that it would be over once and for all.</p><p>He slapped his hand down on the table and said, “Okay, that’s enough. Both of you, come with me.”</p><p>“Where are we going?” Jack asked.</p><p>“Sam will be here soon, if he’s not already, and we’re going to face him. You all need to look him in the eyes and stand up to it. He’s not going to be the boogeyman anymore.”</p><p>Rowena laughed softly. “You think this as simple as facing our fears head-on? In case you’re forgetting, Jack already faced him.”</p><p>Nick's lips curved into a small smile. "This time, you're doing it knowing how it's going to end." He lowered his voice. "I have a plan to deal with Lucifer and Sam. I'm taking the vessel off the board when it's time, and I'm going to need both of you to do it."</p><p>“What are you plotting, Nicholas?” Rowena asked curiously.</p><p>"I'll tell you after you do this. See him now, show him you're not scared, and then I promise I'll fill you in. You need to do this first, or you're not going to be able to do what you need when it's time."</p><p>He walked to the door, knowing they'd follow, and marched through the hall. There was only the sound of his own movements at first, and then Rowena's clipping heels joined him and Jack's more reluctant steps. He smiled to himself and led them to the library.</p><p>Castiel and Dean were talking again, Dean leaning against the table, but they fell silent as Nick, Rowena, and Jack entered. Dean looked understandably surprised as his eyes fell on Rowena as she’d been vocal about not wanting to be anywhere near Sam.</p><p>“He’s not here yet?” Nick asked, his voice successfully calm.</p><p>“He’s on his way,” Castiel said. “He said there was something he wanted to get first. He just reached out to me again to say he was leaving.”</p><p>At almost the same moment, there was a loud knock on the solid iron door of the bunker. Nick was surprised he hadn’t just flown in, but he was also relieved. He figured this show of restraint would help Rowena and Jack deal.</p><p>Castiel strode out of the room, and a moment later, there was the creak of the door opening and the clang of it closing. Nick positioned himself beside Dean, perching on the table in a show of ease, and Dean gave him a small smile before turning as Castiel and Sam entered. In Sam’s arms was a wooden chest, and hanging from his wrist was a plastic bag.</p><p>“Hey, Sam,” Dean said, his tone fonder than was appropriate. Nick figured he was playing to the crowd, wanting Sam to feel there was some sort of bond between them while they were working together and to reassure the vulnerable in the room that he was relaxed.</p><p>Sam smiled at Dean and then walked forward and set the chest on the table and put the bag beside it.</p><p>“What you got there?” Dean asked.</p><p>“I went to see the Brits,” Sam said. “They hooked me up with something that can help you. They are what they call Angel Neutralization Bombs. They used one on me, and it knocked me unconscious. They have a side effect for humans, but they’re not toxic. The Brits said that’s just a pretty bad headache if you breathe too much in. They were wearing gas masks when they used them on me, so they were safe from even that. You’ve got gas masks here, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dean said slowly. “In the stores. They came with the place. How do you know about that?”</p><p>Sam opened his mouth to answer, then cleared his throat and said, "It was a guess. You seem to have everything else here." He looked downcast for a moment, and then his features smoothed, and he said, “If you can get a mask on before using the gas, do that. If not, prepare for a migraine.”</p><p>“I don’t see Michael giving us time to put on a gas mask if he arrives,” Nick said.</p><p>Sam shrugged. “You’ve all been through worse than a headache.”</p><p>“Yes,” Rowena said pointedly. “We have.”</p><p>Sam shot her a glance, and his lips turned down. "I know. I'm sorry."</p><p>A steely look came into Rowena's eyes, and she smiled sweetly. "Oh, we know that, <em>Sam</em>. You’re not him.”</p><p>Perhaps Sam heard some threat in her voice, or perhaps he was playing the role of caring, but he looked upset for a moment before shaking his head, opening the chest and pulling out a small brass cylinder about the size of a golf ball. "You drop it and say 'Libero.' The gas is fast. I was out in seconds. If Michael comes and you can, drop it and call me in that order. Well, pray to me."</p><p>Nick bit his lips to keep from smirking. He planned to pray to Sam one time and one time only, and it wasn’t going to be until he was ready. Only when the plan was in place, Dean and Castiel distracted, would he pray to summon him to his demise.</p><p>“These are great, Sam,” Castiel said with a smile that Sam returned. “Thank you. I know it took trust for you to give them to us as they can be used against you, too, but it’s not misplaced. We won’t hurt you.”</p><p>Nick bit down on his tongue to keep himself from showing his relief. Sam trusted them, which was going to make his plan easy to execute.</p><p>“Yeah, really,” Dean said. “Thanks, Sam.”</p><p>Sam looked pleased. “I got something else out of them as well. In the box is a Hyperbolic Pulse Generator they had, too. We don’t need it for Michael, obviously, but it gets demons out, too, so I figured it might be useful in future.”</p><p>Nick’s heart skipped a beat. This was perfect. “Yeah, that’d definitely be helpful,” he said.</p><p>Sam nodded and glanced at Nick, then quickly looked away.</p><p>”You got any news on Michael?” Dean asked.</p><p>"No, I was in the UK for a while, getting the lowdown on the gas grenades. The recipe for making more is in the box, and I've got some of the more exotic ingredients here.” He gestured to the bag. “The Brits are going to pass on the news to their global chapter houses about Michael’s monsters. They indicated that they would be willing to work with you on this, but…”</p><p>“No!” Dean snapped. “We’re having nothing to do with those bastards after what they did to us, to our mom.”</p><p>Sam nodded, his eyes strangely sad. “I told them you probably wouldn’t, but their contact details are with the ingredients.”</p><p>Nick shook his head. “They can stay there.”</p><p>Sam looked at him for a moment, his brow furrowed as if he was trying to puzzle something out, and then said, “I guess that’s all then. I just wanted to make sure you had these. I’ve got to speak to Violet. I should go.”</p><p>“Let us know if you hear anything,” Dean said. “Or if you, you know, need anything.”</p><p>Sam smiled slightly. “I will.”</p><p>Before Nick could do more than shoot Dean an incredulous look, Sam was gone.</p><p>Dean picked up one of the canisters and turned it over in his hand. “This is great. We’ve got a way to take Michael down long enough to get the angel cuffs on him.”</p><p>“They won’t hold,” Nick pointed out. “Lucifer got out of them.”</p><p>“They might hold him long enough to get Sam here. That’s all we need.”</p><p>Nick felt Jack shift restlessly at his side, and he glanced at him, seeing the stress in his face. He picked up the bag of ingredients and said, “I’ll look through this stuff and see what we’re working with. Rowena, it's obviously witchy, so come give me a hand. Jack, you should probably learn how to do some of this, too."</p><p>“Of course, dear,” Rowena said. “Come along, Jack.”</p><p>Nick led them through the halls to the lab and clicked the door closed. He was sure they were far enough away for Castiel to not hear them, but the added barrier would help. He set the bag down on the counter and then turned and looked at them both.</p><p>“How was that?”</p><p>Jack sighed. “He doesn’t act like him, but it still feels like him.”</p><p>“No, he doesn’t act like him,” Rowena agreed. “But Lucifer didn’t always act like himself either. When he was using me to get what he wanted, he was gentle and kind. That’s what he looks like now.” She narrowed her eyes at Nick. “What’s your plan, Nicholas?”</p><p>“The Cage,” Nick said. “I want to send Sam there, trap him.”</p><p>Rowena’s eyes widened. “Do you think we can?”</p><p>“We did it to Lucifer. Well, almost. We would have if Crowley hadn’t screwed with the spell. Sam’s got grace now, not a soul. We can send Sam to the Cage forever. He’ll never be a threat again, and even if Lucifer somehow gets free of Chuck, his vessel will be useless.”</p><p>“You’ll kill it?” Jack asked.</p><p>“Yes.” He looked between them. “Are you with me?”</p><p>Rowena laughed. “Definitely.”</p><p>“Jack?”</p><p>Jack bit his lip. “I don’t know about this Sam. I don’t know what he did apart from let Lucifer in, so I don’t know if he deserves the Cage…”</p><p>“I didn’t deserve it, but I ended up there anyway,” Nick said bitterly.</p><p>Jack took a breath and stood in thoughtful silence for a while before he nodded and said, “I don’t want Lucifer to come back with a vessel, so yes, I’m in. What do you need me for?”</p><p>“I might not need you at all,” Nick said. “Sam’s given us those bombs so we can knock him out and maybe get the job done before he even wakes up. If not, we can get him in a holy fire circle. There’s warding we can use, too. You might just be there to use a paintbrush. But you’re strong and getting stronger, and we might need that for Castiel.”</p><p>Jack frowned. “Cas?”</p><p>“You saw the way he looked at Sam today,” Nick said. “Dean, too. They’re not going to want us to do this. If they interfere, I can deal with Dean if you can incapacitate Cas when it’s time.”</p><p>Jack's eyes became sad, and Nick guessed there was a war of conscience waging in him. He hurried to press his advantage.</p><p>“This is the way it’s got to be, Jack. Sam needs to be neutralized once he’s dealt with Michael. Dean and Cas can’t understand that as they just see the vessel, not the threat.” He gripped Jack’s shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Are you with me?”</p><p>Jack straightened his spine. “I’m with you.”</p><p>Nick squeezed his shoulders and then released him. “Great. We’ve got everything we need since he brought the generator with him, so we’ve just got to wait for the right moment. As soon as Michael is dealt with, when we're ready, I'll get him here, and we can do it."</p><p>“How will you get him here?” Rowena asked.</p><p>Nick grinned. “I’ll pray. Since he’s playing at being the white knight, I don’t think he’ll be able to resist coming if he thinks we need him.”</p><p>That was his one prayer. He would use Sam’s own need to make amends, to help, against him. He would get him there, trap him, and then send him to the worst place imaginable.</p><p>Only then would it be over.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Chapter 23</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam was investigating a death in Beijing that he thought was one of Michael’s monsters’ kills. The teeth patterns were similar to what he’d seen from a vetala before, though much larger. He guessed Michael had added more to his ranks than just vampires and werewolves. By reading the coroner’s report that he’d taken from the records after sending the file clerk to sleep, he saw that the body was drained of almost all of its blood.</p><p>Reading the file in its beautifully printed Mandarin characters was a surreal experience. The knowledge to read and understand all languages was an unexpected bonus of being an angel that Castiel had never mentioned before. Hearing the language spoken was more confusing. He heard both the words as he would have before, as nothing more than sounds that he couldn’t comprehend, while his mind also translated them into English.</p><p>He guessed it would have given him a headache as a human.</p><p>He’d felt no pain as an angel, apart from the physical wounds given by Castiel, Jody, and her deputy, not to mention the high-powered rifle of the Vegas security guard. And he’d felt no tiredness since the very early days of his transformatrion into an archangel. It didn’t feel quite right; it disconnected him from Sam the human and reminded him that wasn’t who he was anymore. That was sometimes upsetting until he reminded himself that Sam the human would never have been able to protect his family as well as Sam the archangel could.</p><p>He closed the file, pushed the tray that held the body back into the fridge and closed the door. He’d not learned much from it apart from the fact that Michael’s operations had spread to China and that there were now vetala in his ranks. It added to the cases he’d seen in Australia, Denmark, and Zambia in the last three weeks. The only continent he’d not found evidence on was Antarctica, though he’d only visited it out of curiosity. Standing beside the stars and stripes flag at the South Pole had made him wish, for perhaps the hundredth time that Dean was a real part of this experience, that he could tell him about all the things he’d seen and done.</p><p>Or perhaps Castiel was the person to tell. He would be able to relate to the things Sam was doing as he’d probably done them all himself.</p><p>Sam touched the forehead of the man he’d rendered unconscious, wakening him with a gentle push of grace and then flew away before he could do more than groan and blink drowsily.</p><p>He came to a stop at the peak of Mount McKinley in the Denali National Park. He liked it here. He was able to think when he was surrounded by open space. His situation felt less oppressive when he was reminded of his insignificance among the sheer spread of the world. Sometimes his new life was overwhelming; he had so much power and responsibility, and it was nice to feel small within it.  </p><p>He felt a presence join him, and he made himself visible to Violet, who was standing pointedly further away than necessary, still nervous of him, he guessed.</p><p>“Hello, Violet,” he said.</p><p>She bowed her head slightly. “Lucifer. How was China?”</p><p>"You were right; it was another of Michael's monsters that killed the man. I think a vetala.” He frowned. “Were you the one who reaped her? Is that how you knew about it?”</p><p>“No. I just heard the news from Billie, and she asked me to pass it on to you.”</p><p>“Do you think she’ll make time for a face-to-face anytime soon?” Sam asked.</p><p>He wanted to speak to Billie for a purely self-serving reason. He didn’t think she would be able to help him more than she already had, but it would have been nice to see someone that also saw him for who he truly was.</p><p>It was better to hear himself be addressed by Dean as Sam, but it was never the name he truly wanted, Sammy, as that had been lost with the memories.</p><p>“I don’t know,” she replied. “I can ask her, but I don’t think she’d even give me an answer. She’s very mysterious now that she’s Death.”</p><p>Sam shrugged. “Okay. What do you need? You found me for a reason, right?”</p><p>“Yes. I heard about a group of Michael’s creations that are hunting that I thought you would want to know about.”</p><p>Sam’s breath caught. “You mean actual <em>living</em> creations I can talk to?”</p><p>She nodded. “They are in Canada. I can guide you to the place. It’s off the beaten track in Manitoba.”</p><p>“Yes,” Sam said enthusiastically.</p><p>He had been hoping for a chance to speak to another of them. He’d not given the vampire enough time, not gotten more information out of it before killing it. If these monsters knew more than that one had, he might get some insight into Michael’s plans and path. The fact there was evidence of so many of them, and that they were so widely spread made Sam think Michael wanted more than just troops to serve in the place of angels. He thought there was a plan coming together, and that scared him. Even with the Brits' help and network to pass on information, he didn't have his own army to counteract them.   </p><p>“Take me there,” he added.</p><p>She nodded, and Sam spread his wings and followed her. Flying with a reaper was different than how he imagined it felt to fly alongside an angel. Though she was divine, too, Violet had no wings, and her method of movement was more akin to the teleportation that was Crowley’s ability. He locked his attention on her, and his instincts did the rest. Flight with his own wings felt freer. </p><p>They came to a field of wheat stubble that housed a wooden barn with peeling red paint and an open door. Certain he’d lost the element of surprise, he marched to the barn and then raced inside, as Violet disappeared from beside him.</p><p>There were five monsters, one vampire, two werewolves, a heavily tattooed djinn, and another monster with clawed hands and silver eyes that he only recognized from his father’s journal sketch—a kumiho. They were a striking sight, but more striking was the archangel that stood in front of them, addressing them in a speech.</p><p>“You know what you’ve got to do,” Michael said. “Spread out and attack. Don’t take targets that aren’t for the mission unless you <em>need</em> to feed. Our intent isn’t just a massacre. We want the enemy beaten by our army.”</p><p>Sam stared at his back, stunned that Michael showed no signs of concern for his presence, though he must have known Sam was there just as he had sensed Michael, even concealed, in the bunker.</p><p>"Go now," Michael said, then slowly turned and smiled. "Hello, Sam."</p><p>“Michael,” he growled.</p><p>Michael looked amused. “I see you found me. How? I’ve felt you on my heels for weeks, sniffing after my experiments and failures. Did you finally learn how to trace me, or is this pure coincidence?"</p><p>Sam refused to answer, not wanting to give Violet’s help away and put her at risk. If he was apparently able to sense Sam, Michael would surely be able to find her.</p><p>“Not feeling chatty?” he asked. “Shame.”</p><p>The monsters that stood behind Michael started forwards, and Sam flung out an arm. They were driven back a few steps by the pulse of energy he hit them with and knocked down, but he wasn’t able to hold them to the wooden walls of the barn the way he’d intended.</p><p>Michael laughed. “You’re not quite strong enough for that yet, Sam, but you are stronger. It’s happening faster than I expected. Does this mean you’re here to kill me?”</p><p>Sam was tempted to try, but the look in Michael’s eyes told him it wouldn’t work. All he’d probably achieve by attacking now was his own injury and possibly being weakened later when it mattered most. Despite the fact Michael couldn’t kill him, Sam was sure he could hurt him enough to take his ability to defend his family.</p><p>“No,” Sam said. “I’ve been looking for you to make my offer to send you home again.”</p><p>“The offer… Yes. I hate to burst your bubble, Sam, but I know that it’s a lie. And I’m aware that your surety that you’ll kill me is not rooted in fact. I have had a glimpse into what’s contained in Death’s library, and I know your hand is only one of those that can kill me. There are others who are more likely.”</p><p>“I meant what I said,” Sam lied. “I will send you home. I know where the other ingredients for the spell are.”</p><p>Michael smirked. "And you think I don't know? I'll let you in on a secret, I took more than pleasure in my visit to the place you call home." He withdrew his hand from his pocket and held out the Seal of Solomon. "You and your brother didn't hide it as well as you'd thought. If I wanted to go home, I could do it myself. I don't want to go home, though. I like it here. And you know I have made some new friends."</p><p>Sam looked at the monsters who had regained their feet and positioned themselves behind Michael in crouches that made them look as though they were preparing to spring at Sam.</p><p>Michael looked over his shoulder and said, “Stand down. Sam and I are just going to talk. He’s no threat to me.”</p><p>The monsters straightened up and fixed their eyes on Sam, their stares pressing into him like needles.</p><p>“How did you get into Death’s library?” Sam asked.</p><p>“I didn’t. I had a friend do it for me.”</p><p>“A reaper?” Sam guessed and then sighed. “That’s how you got the vessel. I knew you’d had help, but…”</p><p>“But you didn’t know who,” Michael finished for him. “No, I didn’t expect you to know. Lucifer was much smarter than you. Obviously, you’re dealing with the fact you’re slowed down with all this new power and none of the infinite knowledge he had, but he told me you were smarter than this when we discussed you. And we did discuss you a lot. We had time while we sought the other necessary ingredients to bring us to this world, and he was happy to share information about the Winchesters that he hated so much.” He raised an eyebrow. “How does it feel knowing that God has placed the being that hates them so much among your family as a brother and son?”</p><p>“Nick isn’t Lucifer anymore,” Sam said.</p><p>He was sure of that. He saw the way Nick looked at Dean, the same way Sam had with the bond they’d shared. Nick didn’t know who or what he was; Chuck had seen to that, and Billie had confirmed it. Nick had a life with them, a history, that was built on love. The people Sam loved were in no danger from him.</p><p>Michael considered him a moment. “No, he’s not, but doesn’t it burn you to look at him and know who he really is? Lucifer was also happy to talk about what he did to you. I imagine those years in the Cage left some lasting memories.”</p><p>Sam clenched his jaw and stayed silent.</p><p>Michael chuckled. “I see they did.</p><p>“Who is your reaper?” Sam asked.</p><p>“Sure, I’ll tell you so you can go kill her. That makes perfect strategic sense.”</p><p>“It’s a woman then,” Sam said smugly. “That’s all I need to know. Billie will be able to root her out.”</p><p>“You’re assuming Billie doesn’t already know, that she didn’t bring you here today for a reason.”</p><p>Sam frowned. He didn’t think Billie would be working with Michael. She’d told Sam he needed to kill him. She’d said he needed to be stopped. Sam was a safer bet to have as the world’s archangel as he was no threat to anyone she would want to live. Michael was a threat to everyone.</p><p>“You’re lying,” he said. “Billie doesn’t know. She wouldn’t bring me here. It was…” He gasped. “Violet!”</p><p>Michael smirked, and Sam knew he was right.</p><p>How long had she been playing him? Since the beginning, when Billie had told her to help him? Sam had been helpless with his powers, and she'd trained him to use them, but had she taught him everything? Were there other powers she'd neglected to teach him because she didn't want him to be a threat? He wasn't sure, but he saw now that she'd played him well. Even recently, when he was with her, she’d acted as though she was scared of him.</p><p>He’d been so stupid.</p><p>“Why did she bring me here?” he asked. “Why did you want me?”</p><p>“I wanted to talk to you.”</p><p>Sam narrowed his eyes. “No, it’s more than that. I… I’m being distracted.”</p><p>At the same moment that the realization came, there was another. It was too quiet. The monsters were breathing heavily, eager to strike, and he could hear ambient sounds of the barn and surroundings—the creak of the wooden walls as they settled and the birds singing outside, the breeze against the stunted stalks of maize. But there was no hum in his mind of angel radio. It was blocked.</p><p>Sam was here, distracted, which meant Michael wanted him busy while he did something else. And he thought he knew where the real threat was and to whom.</p><p>Sam cursed and took flight, settling in the library of the bunker a moment later. It was empty, and he could hear no sound of presence anywhere inside, but he called for Dean and Castiel anyway. There was no response, and he reached for the hum in his mind and shouted, "Castiel!"</p><p><em>“Sam!” </em>the answer came at once, steeped in stress. <em>"Where have you been? I called you, and Dean prayed. We need—”</em></p><p>“Stop talking!” Sam snapped. “What’s going on? Where are you?”</p><p>
  <em>“We’re in Sioux City. Claire, Claire Novak, my vessel’s daughter, called about a case she needed help with, but she’s not answering her phone now. I heard a prayer, but she was too panicked to make sense. We’re still an hour out from where she was said she was. You have to go. Now!”</em>
</p><p>“Where is she?” Sam asked. </p><p>“Just outside Sioux Falls, a deconsecrated church called The Ministry Chapel.”</p><p>Sam knew it. It was a small place about a twenty-minute drive from Bobby’s place.</p><p>“I’m going,” Sam said. “I’ll find her.”</p><p>“How?” Castiel asked.</p><p>Sam didn’t answer. He withdrew from his own mind, severing the connection with Castiel, and took flight immediately.</p><p>The smell of blood was the first thing to reach his senses before he had even set down in the old church, and the horror of the scene was the second the moment his wings curled in at his back.</p><p>There were four of Michael's enhanced vampires in the room, standing in a circle around Claire, who was tethered to a ceiling beam by her wrists. Her toes barely touched the floor, and there was blood smeared around her mouth. Her eyes were wide and scared, her breaths panting. She showed no sign of relief at the sight of him; if anything, she looked more scared. Sam guessed Dean and Nick had filled her in on who he was, probably after his brief meeting with Jody, but they’d not yet explained the ‘truth’ of his situation as the vessel.</p><p>Sam threw out his hands at the vampires, and they were knocked back to the floor with grunts and growls. While they were momentarily distracted, Sam turned his attention to Claire.</p><p>“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m going to help you.”</p><p>She looked a little startled and then winced as he drew his blade, and it gleamed in the light from the bare bulb above him. “Too bright,” she moaned.</p><p>The meaning of the words, the blood around her mouth, sank in, and Sam's breath whooshed out of him. She was changing.</p><p>“Did you feed?” he asked desperately.</p><p>She shook her head jerkily. “No, they’re waiting.”</p><p>He didn’t ask what they were waiting for as he had a more pressing concern. “Whose blood were you fed?”</p><p>Claire flinched and looked to the right at the vampire that was leering around its descended fangs as it scrambled to its feet. “His.”</p><p>“Okay,” Sam said, his tone soothing. “We’re going to fix this.”</p><p>“Why would you?” she asked.</p><p>Sam didn’t have a chance to answer as the vampires were on their feet again and coming at him. He went for the one he needed the blood from and kicked it in the gut then slammed the hilt of his blade down on the vampire's head, not managing to knock it unconscious but stunning it, so it fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor. </p><p>The moment it took was the chance the others needed to attack. They bowled into him, driving him back, and he swung out with his blade. He felt it catch on flesh, and there was a howl of pain. </p><p>With another wave of his hand, he drove them back and swept his blade through the air, slicing the head from the closest vampire and kicking it aside as it landed by his feet. He widened his stance and waited for the next to come close enough for him to kill. The vampire he’d stunned was trying to get to its feet, but he was able to knock it back with a pulse of power, far easier than it had been against the monsters with Michael as this one was weaker.</p><p>The taller vampire struck, its stinking breath on Sam's neck, and for a moment, he forgot he was an archangel. His mind took him back to that tunnel in the apocalypse world, to the teeth that had bitten into him and torn out his throat.</p><p>His fear became anger, and he flung it off of him with a roar of rage. The vampire fell, and Sam swung, but the other vampire that was still standing jumped onto his back, its hands tight around Sam’s neck.</p><p>Sam forced himself forward with the vampire still clinging to him and drove the blade into the neck of the downed vampire, slicing off its head.</p><p>There was a grunt at his neck, and he allowed himself to fall forwards, effectively dislodging the vampire attached to him, so it rolled over his shoulder and landed heavily on the floor.</p><p>With a swift slice, Sam decapitated it and chanced a glance at Claire. She looked scared. From what he’d seen of Dean’s process of change, it had been a painful affair as well as scary, and he wanted it over for her. He needed blood, though, and he had nothing to gather it in.</p><p>“Okay, Claire. I need to get its blood, and I need something to catch it in. You have to stay here."</p><p>“No! You have to let me down,” she pleaded.</p><p>“I can’t. If you drink even a drop of blood, the cure won’t work. You have to stay here. I’ll be gone a minute, that’s all.”</p><p>“Don’t leave me like this!” Claire begged.</p><p>Sam couldn’t reassure or help her properly without the blood, so he grabbed the vampire by the shoulder and took flight to the bunker's kitchen. He dropped the vampire on the floor, but the movement seemed to have energized it somehow, and it started to scramble to its feet. Sam kicked its legs out from under it and grabbed a sports-cap water bottle—one of his own that was probably now Nick's—from the drainer then bent and cut the vampire's throat, making blood flow freely. He caught it in the bottle, then capped it and set it down on the counter before cutting the vampire's head off and straightening. </p><p>“Castiel,” he called on angel radio. “She’s alive, but it was vampires, and she's changing. I've got the blood, but I need you to bring the other ingredients for the cure so I can get right back to her. You need garlic, sage—”</p><p><em>“But you just told me she’s in Nebraska!”</em> Castiel said stridently. <em>“I heard you. We’re going there now.”</em></p><p>Sam’s eyes widened. “That wasn’t me, Cas! Distraction… It’s got to be Michael! Get Dean away from there. I’m coming. Do not let Dean say yes, whatever you do! You have to protect him, Cas!”</p><p><em>“I will. We’re…”</em> Sam heard an audible cry of shock from his friend, and then Castiel said, <em>“It’s too late, Sam. He’s here.”</em></p><p>"No!" Sam shouted, but there was no response. Michael had severed the connection.</p><p>He cursed and spread his wings again, but before he could fly, he was slammed with a pulse of white light and torn out of the kitchen. Banished again at the exact moment he needed to be free to fly most of all.  </p>
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<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Chapter 24</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you MaggieMay17 for beta'ing, Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny for pre-reading. Thank you all for reading.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dean’s fingers were tight around the steering wheel as he powered towards Nebraska, his heart hammering. He was scared of what was happening to Claire while they were stuck in the car, limited by the time it took to cross the miles. He didn’t think he’d ever missed Castiel’s wings more.</p><p>“Anything new from Claire, Cas?” Nick asked.</p><p>“No. And I’ve not heard from Sam since he told us to go to Nebraska either,” Castiel said. “He must be busy helping her.”</p><p>“You hope,” Nick muttered.</p><p>“Not helping, Nick,” Dean said disapprovingly as he saw Castiel’s face fall in the rearview mirror. “Sam is the most powerful good guy out there right now, and he’s going to help her. Claire is safer with him helping than she would be with anyone else, including us.”</p><p>Nick grunted in response.</p><p>Dean understood his problem with Sam—no matter how much Sam proved he was the good guy, he wore the face of torture to Nick—but he wished Nick would ease up now. They were all stressed out, but they weren’t all making Castiel feel like shit for it.</p><p>Dean cared about Claire, she was like family, but she actually <em>was</em> family to Castiel. After she’d shown up again as an angry teen in a home for kids, Castiel had assumed the role he’d denied Jimmy Novak when he’d taken him as a vessel: the role of a father.</p><p>Castiel was helpless until they could reach her, and that had to be burning him more than any of them now as he was always the protector before. Like the rest of them, he had to rely on Sam to save her.</p><p>“I could try to go to her,” Jack offered for the third time.</p><p>Dean shook his head. “I get that you want to help, kid, but we have no idea if Michael is still tracking you. If he finds you without Sam there to protect you…” The horrifying idea filled his mind, and he gripped the steering wheel tighter. “We only brought you out of the bunker because you’re safer with all of us here than alone. The last time you faced him, you would have died if not for Sam.”</p><p>“But we’ve got the angel bombs and cuffs,” Jack said. “I can drop one and get him locked down.”</p><p>Dean looked over his shoulder for a moment, seeing Jack’s eager expression, and he felt like an asshole. The kid wanted to help, but Dean was worried he would get himself killed if he tried. He had more faith in Claire against whatever she was facing than in Jack without his powers against Michael.</p><p>And the smallest, most selfish part of him knew which of them he was willing to risk. Claire was like family; Jack <em>was</em> a son.</p><p>“We don’t know if the angel bombs will work on you, too,” Nick said, and Dean saw the same guilt in Nick’s eyes that he was sure was in his own. “And the cuffs won’t hold long. We’ve got to be smart.”</p><p>Suddenly, something ran across the road, a female shape, and Dean slammed on the brakes. His reactions were fast, but the momentum of their speed carried them forward, and the woman hit the hood and then bounced off as they came to a stop.</p><p>In an instant, Dean was out of the car, running towards the woman and shouting for Castiel to hurry up and heal her. He felt like an asshole for thinking it, but they needed this woman out of the way—preferably living—so they could get on their way.</p><p>But the woman was getting to her feet, her long and pointed teeth revealing her nature as a vetala. Her shirt fell open to reveal bloody marks on her chest that formed a shape that Dean recognized. He couldn't do more than turn to the side to see Castiel skidding to a stop, his palm pressed to his ear, and his expression stressed, before a voice spoke, and Dean's gaze snapped forward again.</p><p>“Hello, Dean, Jack.”</p><p>Michael stood beside the woman, his palm dripping blood. As Dean cried out inarticulately, Michael slapped his hand down on the symbol on the woman's chest, and a blast of light rushed over them.</p><p>“Cas!” Dean shouted, but he was gone, dragged away by the force of the banishing sigil.</p><p>“Jack?” Nick said, forming it as a question.</p><p>Dean looked around and realized Jack was gone, too. Dean knew that he’d not been affected by a banishing sigil when he was at full power, but it had obviously worked now that he was only running at half power.  </p><p>“Dean…” Michael said, his voice a croon. “You have something I want.”</p><p>“Don’t, Dean,” Nick growled.</p><p>Dean didn’t need Nick’s words to know what he had to do. “I’m not giving it up for you,” he said. “You’re not getting your hands on me. You are not getting in!”</p><p>“No?” Michael asked. “Then we have a problem, don’t we? I have planned for this complication, though."</p><p>He touched the vetala's arm, and Dean felt the rush in his stomach that he’d not felt since Castiel had wings, the rush of flight. They came to a stop in the library of the bunker.</p><p>Nick reached into his pocket, and Dean guessed he was reaching for the angel bomb he had, but before he could take it out, Michael was on him. He yanked Nick’s wrist, breaking it, and making Dean and Nick cry out in unison; Nick in pain and Dean in anger. Michael pushed Nick to the floor and then picked up the canister he'd dropped.</p><p>“What’s this?” he asked.</p><p>“Give it to me and find out,” Dean growled.</p><p>Michael smirked. "I don't think so, Dean. Whatever you've cooked up will not slow me down for long, but I don't want the inconvenience. Now, before I get started with you, I want to talk to Nick.”</p><p>Dean stepped in front of Nick protectively, but Michael merely smiled and touched two fingers to his forehead. Dean dropped like a stone, asleep before he hit the floor, leaving his brother undefended.</p><p>xXx</p><p>Michael smiled down at Nick as he gripped his arm just above his broken wrist and hauled him to his feet.</p><p>Nick couldn’t hide the sound of his pain, but he followed it with a slew of creative curses that he slung at Michael like bullets.</p><p>He knew he was helpless, but he wasn’t going to give in easily. If Michael planned to use him to break Dean down and get the yes he needed, Nick was going to stop him. He could deal with pain, he had nearly two centuries of experience to draw upon, and he wasn’t going to break. Whatever happened, whatever he felt, he would keep telling Dean to say no.</p><p>It was going to be hell for them both, Nick suffering it and Dean watching, but they were strong.</p><p>“Are you done?” Michael asked with a quirked brow. “I would like to begin.”</p><p>Nick glared at him. “You won’t break me. I’ve been in the Cage.”</p><p>Michael laughed hard, the movement making him bend over at the waist and his breath rasp. Nick started to walk around him, wanting to reach the angel bomb, but the vetala that had been watching Michael with an expression of awe snared his legs with a foot and swept his feet out from under him. Nick sprawled on the ground, bumping the edges of the broken bone together and making pain rear.</p><p>“How does that feel?” Michael asked.</p><p>“Screw you. You can say what you want, do what you want, but you’re not getting my help. Dean is never going to give in to you, no matter what you do. We’re going to watch you die painfully. Sam is going to kill you.”</p><p>Even saying the words seemed wrong to him, relying on Sam for this, but he was their only hope.</p><p>Nick swallowed down the acid in his throat as he said, “Sam, we’re in the bunker, Michael is here,” sending the words up as a prayer.</p><p>“You really think Sam will save you?” Michael asked. <em>“</em>He can't get in. My creations are standing guard outside the door and even now…" He looked up and tilted his head to the side. "Even now, they have finished the warding that will stop him from flying in.”</p><p>Nick continued his prayer desperately, knowing it was their one chance, even though it galled him when he'd vowed his first prayer to Sam would also be the last Sam heard before he was back in the Cage. "Sam, there are monsters outside, and warding so you can’t fly in.”</p><p>“That’s it,” Michael said. “Tell him all you want him to know, just don’t expect a reply for... Well, it’s going to be hours before his wings are back in action. I had one of my assistants banish him before he could get to you.”</p><p>Nick’s eyes widened. If Sam had been banished, he was going to be gone for hours. There was no rescue coming. They were alone.</p><p>“Now, are you ready for the fun to start?” Michael asked, jerking his head at the vetala. “Tie him to the chair. I want him nice and comfy for this. I’ll do the vessel. He’s going to need a good position to watch from.”</p><p>Michael grabbed a chair and dragged it into the middle of the room at the same moment the vetala hauled Nick up and shoved him into a chair. He couldn’t do more than struggle to breathe, his head swimming as the change in position brought fresh pain, before ropes were wrapped around his chest and arms. He watched, helpless, as Michael dropped Dean into a chair and did the same.</p><p>With them both bound, Michael drew his archangel blade and said, “Get his shirt open. I want a canvas,” to the vetala, and then he touched Dean’s temple.</p><p>Dean woke with a jolt, his eyes moving between Nick and Michael with a look of fury. "Touch him, and I swear I'll…" he started, but Michael held up a finger, and Dean's teeth snapped together.</p><p>“I will do exactly what I want, and you will watch,” he said. “You have the option of stopping it at any time, of course. All it will take is a simple yes.”</p><p>“No, Dean,” Nick said fervently. “You know I can take it. Don’t give in.”</p><p>Dean stared at him, the steeliness in his eyes devalued somewhat by the tears at the corners, and said. “I know, Nicky. We’re getting through this. It’s going to be okay.”</p><p>Nick nodded and fixed his stare on Michael's face as he approached with the blade extended. He poured as much hatred as he could into his gaze, wishing it could burn the archangel, and Michael smiled.</p><p>The vetala moved forwards toward Dean, her eyes hungry, and Michael held up a hand to stop her. “Can you control yourself?” he asked.</p><p>The vetala nodded. “Yes, sir.”</p><p>Michael considered her a moment and then gestured her closer. When she reached him, staring into his eyes with adoration, Michael touched her cheek. “I don’t think I believe you. And I need to be able to concentrate on what I am doing without watching you lusting after what belongs to me.”</p><p>The vetala seemed to sense the same danger that Nick did for himself, and she stepped backward, but Michael grabbed her hair and pressed his hand to her forehead. Light blazed in her eyes and open mouth, and then her body burned to a husk and crumbled to the floor as ashes.</p><p>Michael brushed off his hands and turned his attention back to Nick, “Here we go.”</p><p>A moment later, the pain began. Within minutes, it had reached agony.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Chapter 25</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam scrambled to his feet the moment he made impact. He was in the deep hole created by his landing, covered with dirt, sawdust, and tree roots. He climbed out, and his eyes roved the area. He was surrounded by a forest of trees, and the ambient sounds he heard were that of the deepest places, without cars or people within his range to hear.</p><p>He attempted to spread his wings, though he knew it would be useless, and groaned in frustration when they stayed curled at his back.</p><p>“Billie!” he shouted. “I need you. I’m… I don’t know where I am, but Michael has Dean, and I’ve been banished. I can’t fly.”</p><p>There was no answering voice, no other presence in the forest around him, and he cursed. Death was obviously sitting this one out.</p><p>He started walking automatically, having no idea which direction he was going in but needing to be in motion.</p><p>“Castiel,” he called. “Can you hear me? Are you with Dean still?”</p><p><em>“Sam! Where are you? Michael has Dean and Nick. Jack and I were banished.” </em> </p><p>“So was I,” Sam said, and he heard a curse in response. “Look around you,” he said. “What can you see?”</p><p>There was silence for a moment, and then Castiel said, <em>"There is a sign. It says Ranger Station, and there's an arrow. What does that mean?"</em></p><p>"Not much that will help," Sam said. "You're in a National Park, but that could be anywhere. Head for the ranger station, follow the arrows and see if you can find a map. Better than that, an actual ranger. You and Jack are going to have to get yourselves out. As soon as I can fly, I’ve got to go to Dean.”</p><p>His heart lurched as he said it. Michael had Dean now, and there was no way of knowing what he was doing to him. Michael would surely want Dean to give consent to him, to have the best possible vessel he could have in order to carry out his plans. The ways he could go about getting that ‘yes’ were what scared Sam. Dean could be hurt.</p><p><em>Or Nick,</em> Gabriel’s voice whispered. <em>Odds are that he’s the one hurting right now, Sam.</em></p><p>That was more true. If Michael had them together, he would know—or soon discover—that the best way to hurt Dean was to hurt his brother.</p><p>That would have once meant Sam.</p><p>That was the way it worked for them. When the Brits had them, they’d hurt Dean to try to break Sam. It had almost worked. He could handle pain, he’d had experience of it in the Cage, but he couldn’t bear to see his brother suffering.</p><p>Dean would feel the same way about Nick. How much could they bear before Dean gave in? Nick had been in the Cage in this world, at least he thought he had, so he had to have good resistance to torture, but he wasn’t Sam. There was no way of knowing how he would react to what Michael would do. Sam could be strong, but he didn’t know if Nick could.</p><p>“What do you have on you?” Sam asked. “What weapons? Do you have a phone?”</p><p>He didn’t know what good a phone would do to them, but it was an automatic response to check resources.</p><p>
  <em>“We have angel bombs, and I have my blade. We’ve been carrying the bombs ever since you gave them to us in case of a situation like this, but… We didn’t have a chance, Sam. He banished us straight away.”</em>
</p><p>“But Dean and Nick have them, too,” Sam said, feeling some relief. “They might be able to use them.”</p><p>
  <em>“Do you think they’ll have a chance?”</em>
</p><p><em>Probably not,</em> Gabriel intoned.</p><p>“I hope so,” Sam said. “That’s our best bet right now. Keep listening for Dean or Nick; they might pray. Tell Jack to do the same.”</p><p><em>What about Claire?</em> Gabriel asked. <em>You seemed pretty invested, and you left her hanging there. </em></p><p>Sam cursed both vocally and over angel radio. He’d forgotten about Claire. He still had the bottle of blood in his pocket, but it was no use to him here. And Claire could break free any moment. Gordon had gotten free in his revenge-driven madness after Dixon had turned him. If Claire drank a single drop of blood, it was all over for her. There could be no cure.</p><p><em>“What’s wrong?” </em>Castiel asked.</p><p>Sam shook his head to clear it. “Claire,” he said. “She was changing. I’ve got the blood for the cure, but I can’t get it to her. Do you have a phone?”</p><p>
  <em>“Yes. Who shall I call?”</em>
</p><p>“Jody,” Sam said. “Tell her what’s happened and that she needs the ingredients for the cure. Make sure she understands she has to keep Claire from getting free. She's restrained now, but she's strong, and if someone stumbles across her…"</p><p>Dean had been strong enough to be around Lisa and Ben in the process of his change without feeding, he’d gone to them to say goodbye, but Claire might not be as strong. She didn’t have Dean’s strength of will, honed from years of fighting, pain, and sacrifice.</p><p><em>“I’ll call her</em>,” Castiel said. </p><p>Sam felt the connection with Castiel break, and he stopped and waited for him to come back, his other senses reaching out to his surroundings to search for signs of civilization that would get him somewhere he could help. If he just had a car… A motorbike would do—anything to speed his progress to Dean.</p><p>Something tickled at the back of his mind, a pull, and then he heard a murmuring voice. With a gasp, he started running towards it, not sure if he was following a hiker, ranger, or just some hermit that was living in whatever forest he'd landed in. </p><p>As he drew closer, he heard it clearer and realized it was Jack and Castiel talking about Claire. Was it possible that the banishing had brought them close enough to Sam for him to reach them?</p><p>“Castiel, start shouting,” he commanded, reconnecting with him on angel radio.</p><p>
  <em>“Why?”</em>
</p><p>“Just do it!”</p><p><em>“Sam!” </em>the bellow came through angel radio and felt like a hammer blow to the temple.</p><p>“Aloud, Cas,” he said angrily. “I think you’re close.”</p><p>Castiel’s voice reached him through the trees. “Sam! Can you hear me?”</p><p>“Yes!” Sam shouted, both on angel radio and aloud as he sprinted toward the sound. “Stop and wait for me. I think I’m close.”</p><p>His feet pelted the dirt and twig strewn ground, and Castiel’s voice grew louder. It seemed to take an age, and he was frustrated that archangel status didn’t seem to come with super-speed as well as flight, and then he saw a sign directing him towards a ranger station and could tell he was close.</p><p>“Castiel! Jack!”</p><p>“Here!” Castiel’s excited shout came in return.</p><p>Sam pushed himself towards the sound, skidding to a stop as he saw a flash of a different shade of brown to the tree trunks and dirt surrounding him. It was Castiel’s coat.</p><p>“Here!” he shouted</p><p>Castiel and Jack sprinted towards him, and before Sam could think or stop himself, he grabbed Castiel’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug. He felt Castiel freeze, and his arms remained hanging at his sides.</p><p>He realized his mistake a moment too late—neither Lucifer nor Sam had reason for personal contact with the angel—and released Castiel and pushed him back.</p><p>"Give me the phone," he ordered, throwing the bottle of blood to Jack, who caught it. "Don't lose that," he added.</p><p>Jack examined the bottle and tucked it into the pocket of his jacket then watched Sam with narrowed eyes as Sam dialed Jody’s number from memory and brought it to his ear.</p><p><em>“Castiel?” </em>she said, confusion and concern in her voice.<em> “What’s going on?”</em></p><p>“It’s Sam. Look, we’ve got trouble. Claire has…”</p><p>“Who the hell is Sam?” Jody asked.</p><p>Sam glared at Castiel. “You didn’t tell <em>any</em> of them?”</p><p>Castiel looked puzzled and then gasped. “We didn’t think…”</p><p>"Awesome." Sam returned his attention to the call. "I'm Lucifer's vessel. Long story short, Lucifer is gone, and I'm in control of the archangel now.”</p><p>
  <em>“How the hell did that happen?”</em>
</p><p>“It doesn’t matter,” Sam said tersely. “You need to get to The Ministry Chapel on the north edge of Sioux Falls. Claire is there. She's turning into a vampire. She was attacked, and they fed her blood."</p><p><em>“Oh god…”</em> Jody whispered. <em>“Claire!”</em></p><p>“Focus,” Sam snapped. “You need to help her. I’ve got the blood you’ll need for a cure, but I can’t get it to you yet. I can’t fly right now, and I’ve got a bigger problem to deal with once I can.”</p><p>He considered telling her about Dean and then dismissed the idea. Jody was already in panic mode, knowing about Claire. If she knew about Dean, too, she was going to be split on what to do, even though she was helpless against Michael.</p><p><em>“Okay,” </em>Jody said. <em>“I’ll go there now.”</em></p><p>“Don’t go inside,” Sam warned. “She’s restrained, but she's going to be strong, and I don't know how much resistance she'll have to the need to feed. If she has even one drop of blood…"</p><p><em>“I know!”</em> Jody snapped. <em>“But Alex was okay. She controlled herself.”</em></p><p>“Do you want to risk it on faith?” Sam asked. “Be smart. Don’t tell her you’re there even. Your job is to keep any human from going near her. She <em>cannot </em>feed.”</p><p><em>“How do I know this isn’t a trap?”</em> she asked, her hunter’s mindset finally coming into focus.</p><p>Sam handed the phone to Castiel and said, “Tell her who I am.”</p><p>Castiel lifted the phone to his ear and said, “Jody, you can trust him. He’s telling the truth, and we’re all trusting him right now.”</p><p>
  <em>“Okay, I’m going. Get that blood to me as fast as you can.”</em>
</p><p>“We will,” Castiel promised.</p><p>The call cut off, and Sam took the phone from Castiel and tucked it in his pocket. He had no idea when he might need it, and now Castiel and Jack were with him, they wouldn't.</p><p>“Empty your pockets,” Sam said. “Give me everything you’ve got.”</p><p>Castiel pulled two angel bomb canisters from his coat's pockets, and Jack added one of his own from his jacket.</p><p>“The cuffs?” Sam asked.</p><p>“We only have two sets, and Dean and Nick have them,” Castiel explained.</p><p>“Okay. I can work with that.”</p><p>If the plan he was building came into fruition, Dean and Nick would be able to cuff Michael while he was unconscious and use whatever else they had with them, wherever they were, to lock him down. If Sam could manage it, he’d stay out of range of the smoke. If not, he would hope he woke up faster than Michael.</p><p>“What are you going to do?” Castiel asked.</p><p>“As soon as I can fly, I’m going to find them and kill Michael,” Sam stated.</p><p>“Are you strong enough?” Castiel asked.</p><p>Sam looked at him with resolve. "I'm not sure. I know one thing, though: Michael isn’t going to be the one to kill me. That’s the job of someone I love.”</p><p>Castiel looked puzzled. “Who do you love?”</p><p>Sam bit down on his tongue. He was making too many mistakes to maintain the cover of being Lucifer’s vessel. It was the stress of the moment, the familiarity of fighting the big fight to protect people he loved, and his emotions were running too high for him to be cautious.</p><p>“It doesn’t matter,” he said, gripping the angel bombs tight in his hands. “What matters is that we’re ready the moment my wings come back online. You’ve got your own job to do, too.”</p><p>“What do we need to do?” Jack asked.</p><p>Sam considered him for a moment and then gasped as a solution to one of their problems came into focus. “Can you still fly, Jack?”</p><p>“Yes. I can’t now because I was banished, but before that, I could.”</p><p>Sam breathed a sigh of relief. “Then you get that blood to The Ministry Chapel in Sioux Falls so Jody can cure Claire.”</p><p>“What else?” Jack asked.</p><p>“That’s not enough?” Sam snapped and then sighed and addressed them both with intensity in his words. “When Jody has the blood, come back to the bunker. Hopefully, that's where Michael has them; it’s the logical choice.”</p><p>“Hopefully? Logical choice? Can’t you sense where he is?” Castiel looked at Sam in confusion. Sam shook his head.</p><p>“Should I be able to? Isn’t he warded?”</p><p>“Dean and Nick are hidden from us but you should be able to find Michael.”</p><p>“Can you?”</p><p>“I could sense him if he was nearby but you should be able to feel him even if he were on the moon,” Castiel replied.</p><p>“How?” Sam asked.</p><p>“You can feel Michael’s true form, the energy signal given off by his grace. I can see you even when my eyes are closed.”</p><p>Sam promptly closed his eyes. Now he searched for it there was something. It was huge but it wasn’t where Castiel was standing. He turned and opened his eyes in wonder, looking now at Jack. He closed his eyes again. How hadn’t he noticed that before? If he tried to find words they would be <em>bright</em> or <em>hot</em> but really they didn’t even skim the surface of what he was sensing. He turned back to Castiel and this time he could see something, though it was smaller and less intense compared to Jack, like a candle in daylight. Castiel’s grace gave Sam the impression of… <em>battle.</em> He turned away, eyes still closed, and scanned further afield. There was something <em>crackly</em>, only a handful of miles away. He opened his eyes and pointed but Castiel shook his head.</p><p>“There is an electricity generating facility in that direction,” he said. Sam closed his eyes and searched again.</p><p>There. Distant, big as Jack though it felt very different, this energy was sharp like knives, bitter like acid, and it was in Lebanon, Kansas.</p><p>“I guessed right,” Sam said to Castiel. “Michael is at the bunker, that’s where to come after you see Jody.If Michael is out of action—and only <em>if,</em> or you’ll be coming in to die—you come and do what you can for Nick. He’s probably going to need healing. I’m going to be busy with Michael.”</p><p>He hoped he would be at least. He didn’t feel strong enough for this fight, but he had no choice but to face it now.</p><p>It was time. </p><p>xXx</p><p>Michael drew another cut down Nick’s chest, slicing from his collarbone, skirting his left nipple, and cutting down his stomach to the waistband of his jeans.</p><p>Nick cried out with pain, and Dean groaned in response.</p><p>Dean had suffered a lot in his life—he’d had thirty years of torture in Hell, and he’d seen Nick hurting before—but he’d never been forced to watch it helplessly, not like this.</p><p>Michael was a master of the art of pain. He knew the most sensitive places, and he used them all. Each of Nick’s fingers had been broken, and Michael sometimes tugged on them just to hear Nick’s cries of pain, just as he would press the hilt of his blade down directly over the break in Nick’s wrist. Nick had moved past the point of being able to hide his pain. It was vocalized every time now, but it was always followed by two words. "Don't, Dean."</p><p>Dean wanted to keep resisting, he needed to, but it was getting harder with every minute of his brother’s agony.</p><p>He knew if Nick wasn’t so strong, his defiant eyes locked on Michael every time he told Dean to resist, he would have given in a long time ago.</p><p>Just as it had once before, when he’d been so desperate and disillusioned to go to Michael and offer consent, Nick’s faith in him kept him from giving in. If Nick could handle this agony, the slices littering his skin, the blood slicking him, the broken bones and dislocated shoulders, Dean could bear watching.</p><p>He had the easiest part of this situation. The only person that had it easier than him was Mary as she didn’t know anything about what was happening. She’d gone to Florida with Bobby and Rowena. Dean was fervently grateful that she wasn’t there; he didn’t want her in danger. He was hanging onto the hope that he was going to get a chance to have a conversation with her in which he’d be able to lie about what had really happened, to cushion the shock for her.                 </p><p>“What do you say, Dean?” Michael asked, tapping the tip of his blade on the bridge of Nick’s nose. “Are you going to say yes now, or does he need to lose an eye to make you see I’m going to win either way?”</p><p>“Don’t, Dean,” Nick grunted.</p><p>“No,” Dean said, the words causing a weight to settle over his heart and press down so hard that it seemed impossible that it could still beat.</p><p>Michael sighed. “I thought you might say that.” He brought the blade close to Nick’s right eye and began to edge it forward.</p><p>“Sam!” Dean bellowed. “We need you! Please!”</p><p>He had been praying for as long as Michael had been hurting Nick, pleas for help and offers of anything given in return, but Sam hadn't come still. It had to have been long enough for Sam to be able to fly again. Michael had told him it was no use; Sam had been banished, just like Castiel and Jack, but that only lasted a matter of hours, and Dean was sure they’d been tied to these chairs for days.</p><p>Michael moved the blade and tapped it against Nick’s shoulder as he fixed his eyes on Dean. “How many times do you need to hear it before you believe he can’t come? He can’t even hear you. This place is warded against everything that might help you. Sam can’t fly in, he can’t hear your prayers, and if he did manage to get here, he wouldn’t be able to get past my monsters. There are too many of them for him to fight his way through. They might not be able to kill him—in fact, I don’t want them to—but they can stop him.”</p><p>“He’s going to kill you,” Dean threatened.</p><p>“He thinks he is,” Michael said. “But I know better. He is only one potential end for me, one of many, and I will make sure he’s never able to do it. Now, where were we?”</p><p>He brought the blade to Nick’s eye again and then paused as a slamming sound reached them from the next room.</p><p>Dean’s heart skipped. Something had collided with the heavy door of the bunker, which meant help was coming.</p><p>Perhaps his sense of time had been off—understandable given what was happening while he was waiting; perhaps it had taken time for them to be traced.</p><p>Whichever it was, Sam was coming.</p><p>Dean locked eyes on his brother and said, “Hear that, Nicky? Sam’s coming. He’s going to save us.”</p><p>Nick nodded stiffly, but Dean could tell he wasn’t convinced.</p><p>“I’m sure he’ll try,” Michael said, fixing his eyes on Dean. “He really does love you.”</p><p>Nick turned confused eyes on Dean, his gaze pleading for an explanation, but Dean had none to give. Nothing Michael had said made sense; there was no love between him and Sam, just a shared need that engendered trust. </p><p>If Dean was wrong to trust Sam, if Michael was right and Sam wouldn’t be able to kill him…</p><p>It wasn’t possible that Sam could love Dean, and Dean would kill Sam in a heartbeat if it meant protecting Nick.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Chapter 26</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you MaggieMay17 for beta'ing, Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny for pre-reading. Thank you all for reading.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The moment Sam felt his wings free and spread at his back, he turned to Castiel and said, “I’m going. Get the blood to Jody, then find us."</p><p>Jack nodded jerkily, and Castiel said, “We’ll be there.”</p><p>Sam took flight toward the bunker, hoping against hope that what he had sensed was in fact Michael as he had no other way to trace Dean because of his rib sigils.. He hit a solid wall before he could enter, though, and found himself on his back in the field beside the bunker.</p><p>He leaped to his feet and started towards the bunker entrance, unmindful of his senses until he heard a fierce growl and realized his view of the door was occluded. There was a group of Michael’s monsters crowded in front of them.</p><p>He stopped and cursed, running over his options in his mind. He was sure Michael had Dean and Nick in there as there was no other reason for him to have guards, so he had to get past them and inside. All he could do was fight his way in. He ran around a hedge that lined the field, jumping a ditch, and roared with rage—in an attempt to intimidate—as he barrelled towards the monsters.</p><p>A djinn ran and met him, and he lowered his shoulders and charged into it, driving it into the door with a loud thud.</p><p>The djinn was on its feet again almost straight away, but Sam couldn’t do anything to attack as another monster had jumped onto his back, its hands clamped around Sam’s neck and its teeth pressing into his skin.</p><p>Sam’s blade slipped into his hand as he bowed his back and fell forward, rolling the monster off of him. Its teeth sank into him at the same moment, tearing out a chunk of flesh that it held in its jaws. It was a werewolf, and Sam had a split second to be grateful that archangels couldn't be turned before there was a new attack coming at him from the side.</p><p>He dodged away and swept his blade through the air to drive them back, but new weight fell on his back, claws digging into the skin over his jugular. He dropped and rolled, pinning the djinn beneath him with his knees on its shoulders. He gripped both ends of his blade to drive into its neck and decapitate it, cutting into his own palm at the same time.</p><p>Blood slicked his skin, but grace also flowed, healing the wound. Glad that he was now strong enough to heal automatically, but cursing the fact he had just spent grace that he would need for strength to kill Michael, Sam jumped off of the djinn’s corpse and prepared for the next attack.</p><p>There were still twelve monsters facing him, a combination of vetalas, vampires, what looked like a rugaru, and the werewolf with bloody teeth from the flesh it had torn out of Sam. Part of him wondered if the werewolf had spat the piece out or eaten it.</p><p>Dismissing the sickening question, Sam focused all of his attention on his situation.</p><p>There were too many of them against one of him, and they weren’t using skill. They had teeth and brute strength. It was going to be a brawl, and Sam was going to have to match that.</p><p>There was only one safe way to get into the bunker, though, through that door without any of them left alive to follow, so he threw himself into the fight with <strike>a</strike>nother roar of rage.</p><p>He ignored everything his father had taught him about professional fighting and let the monster within him come to the fore.</p><p>xXx</p><p>As there was another hammer blow on the door, Nick’s heart skipped. He didn’t know what was happening outside, but he knew it was taking Sam a long time to get inside, longer than it had taken Michael when he’d come the first time. He guessed what he could hear were signs of Sam fighting the monsters Michael said were waiting.</p><p>The fact he was relying on Sam felt wrong, but it was all they had, all he had, the only hope that the pain ripping through him was going to end soon.</p><p>Apocalypse World Michael wasn’t as imaginative as the one Nick had been in the Cage with. He was limited by Nick's mortality and his ability to stay conscious. </p><p>In the Cage, Michael had been free to do what he liked when he and Lucifer had worked together or when Lucifer had given over Nick to him for a while. He had been able to spread Nick’s ribs and root among his vital organs with scrabbling fingers to pluck them out randomly and throw them over his shoulder. He’d always ended with the heart. Only when he had pushed it into Nick’s own hand, forcing his fingers to clench around it, crushing it to a bloody pulp of muscle and gristle, had it ended. Then Nick had been healed, and they'd started all over again.</p><p>This wasn’t as bad as that. The pain was there, but the psychological torture was missing.</p><p>“He’s coming, Nicky,” Dean said, yet again, as Michael ran the blade down Nick’s cheek.</p><p>He hadn’t taken Nick’s eyes yet, though he continued to threaten it. Nick knew that if Michael did it, he would struggle to stay strong. He would never let Dean say yes, but he would beg for it to stop. He had in the Cage. Of all the things they’d done to him, taking his eyes had been among the worst. The loss of that sense had left him unable to tell where the pain was going to be next, and he’d had no way to prepare himself for it.</p><p><em>“He’s coming, Nicky</em>,” Michael imitated in a mocking tone. “Funny how you think that will comfort him, Dean. You should both know that all you’ll see when the vessel gets in here is him dying.”</p><p>The door rattled again, and this time it seemed different. It was more than something colliding with it; it felt purposeful, a feeling that intensified when the impact came again and again.</p><p>“Nicky,” Dean said breathlessly.</p><p>Nick nodded weakly. The fight outside was over. Sam was coming in.</p><p>Michael laughed and then sauntered forwards to the steps that led down into the war room. He stood at the top and, after a loud metallic thump and squealing from the door, said, “Hello, Sam.”</p><p>“Michael,” Sam replied from a distance.</p><p>Dean was positioned looking away from the war room, facing Nick, and he was trying to look over his shoulder but obviously failing to get a good enough view as he fixed his eyes on Nick and said, “What’s happening.”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Nick admitted. He could only see Michael. Sam was still clearly on the raised balcony in front of the door.</p><p>“Dammit, Sam,” Dean shouted. “Do something.”</p><p>“It’s okay, Dean,” Sam said in a strangely soothing tone. “I’ve got him.”</p><p>Nick felt the color drain from his face as Dean paled in front of him and flinched. It could be a coincidental choice of words, but it was exactly what Nick had said immediately after taking control of Lucifer in Stull.</p><p>“Got me?” Michael asked. “Sam, you’re too scared to face me, hiding up there like a coward. You have nothing to threaten me with.”</p><p>“I’ve got this,” Sam said. “<em>Libero</em>!”</p><p>Nick saw something drop in front of Michael and then gas hissed and filled the air. Michael stood perfectly still, seeming calm, and then the gas reached up and around him, and he coughed.</p><p>“Yes!” Dean said triumphantly.</p><p>Choking and starting to falter, Michael threw up his arms, and a human shape fell from a height with a thud. It was Sam. He got to his feet, bloodied almost as badly as Nick, but a moment later, he was on his knees again as the gas clouded around him. </p><p>Michael was wavering, his hands waving as if he could drive away the gas. Sam’s voice was hoarse as he said, “When the gas is gone, call Cas,” and then he fell forwards, his cheek pressed into the floor, unconscious.</p><p>Michael lasted a moment longer before he dropped, too, toppling down the steps and becoming boneless beside Sam.</p><p>“What’s going on?” Dean asked, craning his neck to look over his shoulder.</p><p>“They’ve both been knocked out,” Nick said.</p><p>“And the gas?”</p><p>“It’s fading,” Nick said, seeing the air clear. After a minute of careful examination, he said, “It’s gone.” Thankfully, it didn’t reach as far as them, so they weren’t left with the debilitating headache Sam had warned them about. Nick was already in enough pain without adding more.</p><p>“Good,” Dean said then raised his voice to a bellow. “Cas! Get your ass in here.”</p><p>Nick hadn't expected a fast response. Castiel had been banished like Sam, and he had no wings to fly back, but Sam must have met him or retrieved him before coming here as footsteps raced down the stairs and Castiel and Jack came into view.</p><p>“Oh god,” Jack breathed, as he caught sight of Nick, slick with blood and covered in cuts and swollen bruises around his broken bones. “Nick…”</p><p>“Heal him, Cas,” Dean commanded.</p><p>“I will,” Castiel said. “Where are the angel cuffs?”</p><p>“My set are in my left pocket,” Dean said, and Nick added, “I’ve got mine in my jacket.”</p><p>Castiel pressed his fingers to Nick's temple, and Nick felt the wave of pain as bones, flesh, and skin knitted together. Then Castiel was rooting in his jacket and pulling out the angel cuffs. "Put them on Michael, Jack,” he said, handing him the cuffs. “Make them tight.”</p><p>“And maybe get us the hell out of these ropes,” Dean suggested.</p><p>Castiel tugged at the ropes around Nick's chest, and they fell away before he moved onto Dean and did the same.</p><p>Nick got to his feet and stretched his back. Though the pain of his injuries was gone, he felt clumsy and slow after being tied up so long.</p><p>Dean rushed at him and dragged him into a hug, “Dammit, Nicky,” he said weakly and then held him at arm’s length. “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Yeah. Fine,” Nick said. “You?”</p><p>Dean blew out a breath. “Holding out against that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But, yeah, I’m good if you are.”</p><p>Nick patted Dean's cheek and then made his way over to Michael, who was prone on the floor, his hands cuffed in front of him.</p><p>“We’ve got to tie him down, too,” Dean said.</p><p>“He’ll get out of whatever we put on him,” Nick pointed out. “We’d need holy fire to trap him properly.”</p><p>“We can’t do that. We need Sam to be able to get at him,” Dean said with a frown.</p><p>“Then we put the circle around both of them and let them fight it out,” Nick said.</p><p>Dean gave him a sad glance. “Nicky, he just saved you from that psycho, saved us both. He’s on our side; he’s the one that’s going to end this. I get that it’s hard to see him looking like that, but he’s not Lucifer.”</p><p>Nick nodded stiffly. He knew Sam wasn’t Lucifer, but Sam still felt dangerous. </p><p>xXx</p><p>Dean straightened up from the chair that he’d been leaning over, where Michael was bound, and tested the chains around Michael’s chest. “I think that’s as good as we can make it,” he said.</p><p>“How long do you think it will hold?” Jack asked.</p><p>"Not long," Castiel said. "Hopefully, long enough for Sam to kill him."</p><p>“Which would be easy if he was awake,” Nick pointed out, a bite to his tone.</p><p>“Try pressure points,” Dean suggested.</p><p>“What’s a pressure point?” Jack asked.</p><p>“A pain point,” Nick said.</p><p>Nick bent over Sam and ground his knuckles into his sternum. Dean could see the pressure he was using in the way the muscles and tendons stood out on Nick’s arm, but Sam didn’t stir. </p><p>“Do angels even have pressure points?” Jack asked.</p><p>“There are places that are more sensitive,” Castiel said. “But not to pressure. Pain comes from a weapon for us.”</p><p>“Then we stab him,” Nick said, picking up the blade Sam had dropped when he’d passed out and pressing it to Sam’s shoulder.</p><p>“No!” Castiel barked. “We need him with as much grace remaining as possible. He has obviously been injured by the monsters he had to kill getting in, and the healing of those wounds would have taken grace. He will not be strong enough to fight if he loses any more.”</p><p>Nick cursed. “If he’s weaker than he was before, when this whole Michael fight was off the table since he hadn’t gotten all his grace back, what the hell makes you think he’s going to win now?”</p><p>Castiel’s silence was answer enough. He didn’t know if Sam could win, perhaps didn’t even <em>think</em> he would.</p><p>“Right,” Dean said. “You guys have got to get out of here. If this comes down to it, Michael is going to be pissed enough to strike out. I’m the only one he won’t kill.”</p><p>“No way in hell,” Nick growled. “We’re not leaving you alone in this. If anyone is going, we’re all going. If Sam wins, he can find us to tell us all about it. And if Michael wins… Well, he’s going to make sure we know pretty damn fast, too.”</p><p>Dean understood Nick’s feelings, he wouldn’t want to leave any of them here, but he couldn’t make himself leave. Something told him, some core instinct that was impossible to ignore, made him certain he needed to be there to see it happen.</p><p>There was a soft hitching breath behind them, and they all spun to see Michael blinking blearily.</p><p>“Get out of here,” Dean ordered. “All of you. Now!”</p><p>“No, stay. The fun is just starting,” Michael said, his voice becoming stronger with each word. “I want you to see Sam die. I know how much it will mean to you all.” He fixed his eyes on Nick. “Well, perhaps not you so much.”</p><p>Nick pushed Jack behind him and squared his stance.</p><p>“Sam,” Dean called. “Now would be a good time for you to wake up.”</p><p>“It’s going to take him a little longer to wake from his nap,” Michael said. “He’s not as strong as me.”</p><p>Jack tried to step around Nick, but he was pushed back with a snapped, “Don’t be stupid!”</p><p>Michael flexed his arms, making the chains around him stretch and clink. “Just give me a minute. I’ve almost got it.”</p><p>“Sam!” Nick shouted. “Wake your ass up!”</p><p>Dean chanced a glance over his shoulder, but Sam was still unmoving. His gaze snapped back to Michael as there was a screech of metal and the chains slipped to the floor. Michael raised his hands in front of him, and the cuffs glowed and then fell away. He got to his feet, stretched his arms, and then threw out his hands. Nick, Castiel, and Jack were thrown back, colliding with bookshelves and the wall. They dropped to the floor, all of them unconscious. Dean was the only one of them that remained standing.</p><p>“That’s better,” Michael said. “They were annoying me. But you, Dean, I want you awake to see Sam die. You’re the one it’s going to matter to most of all.”</p><p>“Why me?” Dean asked automatically.</p><p>Michael chuckled. “That’s the beauty of this. He did such a good job that not even the bond of legendary love can break it. Perhaps when he's dead, it will be different. That's the sort of loophole he would leave. You’d get to see him die in time to remember and see what you lost.”</p><p>Dean had no idea what Michael was saying, but he was preoccupied by the sound of a soft breath behind him. He guessed Sam was waking up, and he was going to do what he could to distract Michael long enough to give Sam time to strike.</p><p>He walked towards Nick, who was in the opposite direction to Sam, ostensibly checking on his brother. Michael seemed fooled as he turned, too, facing away from Sam and watching as Dean pressed his fingers to Nick’s throat, feeling the steady thrum of life beneath.  </p><p>“If only you knew what you were missing, who you were so worried about, it would blow your mind.”</p><p>“I’m worried about my brother,” Dean said, straightening up and seeing Sam get to his feet behind Michael. “I’m worried about the right thing.”</p><p>“Brother…” Michael smirked. “Yes, brothers are so— No, you don't!"</p><p>Sam had crept up behind Michael and drawn back his blade to strike, but Michael spun and punched his jaw, driving him back. The sound of the impact was like a clap of thunder, and the floor beneath Dean's feet shook.</p><p>He understood now why the prophesied fight between them would have destroyed half the planet, how the apocalypse world had come into being. This fight was going to be a huge exchange of power.</p><p>He had no idea if that was what would happen here, if he was at ground zero along with others he cared about, but he hoped not. If Sam could get the strike in fast, go for the kill, they might be spared.</p><p>“I might not kill you, Sam,” Michael mused. “How would you like to go to the Cage? I understand there is a way. I hear this world’s version of me is still there. I imagine he would like to see you.”</p><p>Sam’s face drained of color, and he jabbed forward with his blade. Michael moved back easily, a laugh on his lips, and then thrust his arm forward. The blade entered Sam's right hip and slashed up to his navel. Dean cried out in shock at the same moment, Sam's pain made itself known in a cry.</p><p>“I could let you live,” Michael offered. “I could take your grace and leave you human to pick up where you left off. You could tell them the truth, have them back, everything you lost, and all it would take is for you to beg.”</p><p>“Never,” Sam growled as they carefully circled each other, both looking for an opening to strike.</p><p>Michael quirked a brow. “Don’t you want them back? Don’t you want <em>him</em>?”</p><p>Sam chanced a glance at Dean, eyes filled with pain and longing that Dean didn’t understand, and then said, “I want you dead more.”</p><p>Michael sighed. “That’s a pity. I would have enjoyed seeing you try to find your place again.”</p><p>Sam thrust his blade forward, catching Michael's shoulder, and Dean felt a surge of hope. Sam was bloodied, and his cheek was swelling from Michael’s earlier blow, but he was still fighting.</p><p>Michael pushed him back and touched the bloody spot on his shoulder. He examined his hand and then jabbed out again, his blade sinking into Sam’s arm. He tried to pull it out, but Sam gripped it with his free hand and held it in place.</p><p>Michael smirked. “What are you doing, Sam? Giving in?”</p><p>Dean was wondering the same, but Sam’s intent became clear then, and the sheer determination and strength of it made Dean’s mouth fall open.</p><p>Still gripping the blade, causing blood to drip from his hand to the floor, Sam drove himself onto it, edging closer to Michael.</p><p>Michael had two choices, release his blade or stand firm, and he chose the stupidest option. Still gripping his blade's handle in one hand, he brought the other up to punch Sam.</p><p>Sam took the blow, making a point of spitting blood onto the floor, then yanked himself to the side. Michael’s blade sliced through the flesh of his arm, causing blood to drench his sleeve as he was freed, and then he stepped towards Michael, making a swift movement of his hands as he did it.</p><p>“What are you doing to yourself?” Michael asked.</p><p>Dean watched, wide-eyed, as Sam brought up his own blade. He had switched it into his uninjured hand as he stepped forward and now drove it upward, through the soft flesh of Michael’s throat and into his head.</p><p>Dean’s arm flew up to cover his eyes as a whine cut through the air and light blazed. He heard two thumps and a groan of pain.</p><p>He had to see what was happening; he couldn’t deny the need, so he lowered his arm to see both Sam and Michael on the floor. Sam’s blade was still in Michael, and light was blazing in his eyes and mouth. Sam was slumped down at his feet, drenched in blood and panting. </p><p>As the light died, the shape of wings appeared on the floor, spread from Michael’s back, and flames flickered along them, leaving ashes behind.</p><p>“He’s dead,” Sam panted, forcing himself to his knees and crawling to Michael’s side to drag his blade free and clutch the hilt to his chest with an exhausted moan.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Dean asked.</p><p>Sam groaned. “I’m not sure there’s enough grace in me to heal myself anytime this year.”</p><p>“Can I help? Can Cas?”</p><p>Sam huffed a laugh. “I think this is beyond what Castiel can do.” He staggered to his feet and braced his hand on the table beside him.</p><p>Dean wanted to check on Nick again, but there was a question spinning in his mind that he needed to be answered. "Sam, what was Michael talking about? What did you lose? <em>Who</em> did you lose?”</p><p>Sam pressed a hand to his forehead, leaving a smear of blood there, and said, “I lost my family.”</p><p>Dean realized he knew nothing about Sam’s life before he was Lucifer’s vessel. All he knew was that Sam had been trying to help when he gave consent, and he’d learned that from Amara.</p><p>“Who were they?” he asked. “Who were you?”</p><p>Sam smiled slightly, seemingly to be on the verge of speech, and then his legs gave way, and he crumpled.</p><p>Dean rushed towards him, his hands outstretched, but before he could reach him, Sam held up a hand and got to his feet. With Dean still held in place, he staggered out of the room and up the stairs. His footsteps faded, and then, through the silence of the room, came a soft flutter. Sam was gone.</p><p>Dean looked from the blood pool where Sam had knelt to the body of the archangel, the defeated blade beside it on the floor, and then back to his brother. They had a body to deal with, more bloodstains that he wanted to think about to mop up, he had a probably concussed brother, an unconscious angel and Nephilim to wake up, but for a moment, he just stood and thought. </p><p>Michael was dead, it was over for now apart from his monsters, and Sam had survived. But Dean was left with questions and a need to know more.</p><p>He wanted to help Sam, find out who he’d lost and what had happened to them, then maybe they’d be able to get them back for him.</p><p>They might be able to give Sam his family back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So… Michael is dead! That was a good scene to write as I’d been building towards it for a long time, but there is still so much more to tell. We have a few more chapters of Part One to go, and then we’ll be back in Part Two to see what comes next. <br/>Until next time…<br/>Clowns or Midgets xxx</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Chapter 27</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dean looked up as Nick’s phone beeped, watching as he pulled it from his pocket and checked the screen.</p><p>“Courtesy text from Rowena,” Nick said with a small smile. “She and Mom are just pulling into the garage now, and Mom’s on high alert.”</p><p>“Figures,” Dean said. “I played down what happened, but there’s only so much downplaying you can do when you’re talking about a crazy archangel fight.”</p><p>Dean had done his best, not telling her about Nick being tortured, but she was still freaking enough to make the two-day drive in one. He figured she’d switched off the driving with Rowena, which was a tell of how stressed she was because Rowena drove like a maniac. The witch said she was the kind of woman that was driven, not one that drove herself, and her skills didn't lie behind the wheel. Having once seen her trying to parallel park, Dean could agree with that.</p><p>He was glad she’d been with Mary when Michael had struck, though. He thought the fact of his arrival and what had happened could have been enough to drive Rowena away from them for good if she’d been there. They might need her in the future if they were going to help Sam.</p><p>Dean wasn’t sure what had happened to Sam’s family, who they were even, but a highly-powered witch was probably going to come in handy to track them down and fix things for him. And Dean really wanted to do it. He’d seen the agony in Sam’s eyes just before he’d taken off, that desperate sadness, and he could relate to it. Having lost people he loved in the past, too, he knew what it would mean to Sam to get them back.</p><p>“What exactly did you tell her?” Nick asked.</p><p>Dean shrugged. “I told her he came for me as a vessel again, that it was rough on you, but Sam took him out.”</p><p>“Not that it was rough on you?” Nick asked.</p><p>“That part goes without saying,” Dean stated.</p><p>Mary knew them, how they worked and what their strengths and weaknesses were. It wouldn’t take much thought for her to work out that Michael would have played on their weaknesses. Nick was Dean’s weakness.</p><p>“Guess so,” Nick said dourly.</p><p>Nick had been in a strange mood since he’d woken up after Michael knocked him out. Castiel cured his concussion, but when Dean started to tell them what Sam had said about his family, Nick had excused himself and taken off. He’d seemed distracted ever since, as if his mind was working overdrive on something that he wasn’t ready to share.</p><p>Dean hoped having their mother home would help.</p><p>Castiel and Jack were in Sioux Falls. Castiel had wanted to see Claire again, but he’d been wary of overwhelming her before she was ready. No matter what kind of connection had been forged between them, he still wore her father’s face, and that was hard on her sometimes. The fact that she was already struggling had made Castiel believe it was better for him to give her some space. Jody had assured him Claire was ready for company, though, and he and Jack had taken off soon after. Dean and Nick were going to see her in a few days.</p><p>The door at the end of the library flew open, and Mary ran in. Dean and Nick stood side by side, and she grabbed them both, an arm around each of their necks, and pulled them close.</p><p>“Are you okay?” she panted. “What did he do to you?” She released them and then fixed her eyes on Nick. “Did he hurt you?”</p><p>“No more than I could handle,” Nick said.</p><p>“Yeah, Sam stepped in fast,” Dean lied.</p><p>It had been hours of pain for them both—physical for Nick, and mental for Dean—before Sam had been able to get to them, and it had felt much longer, but she didn’t need to know that.</p><p>Rowena came in behind Mary at a more sedate pace and dropped her bag down on the first table. “Hello, boys,” she said. “I understand you’ve been having an adventure without us.”</p><p>Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah. You could say that.”</p><p>“You can tell me all about it when I’ve had a chance to clean up,” Rowena said, smoothing the folds of her wrinkled dress. “I feel like I’m carrying every mile of the road on me.”</p><p>“Sure,” Dean said. “Your room is where you left it.”</p><p>Rowena’s nose wrinkled. “Yes, my <em>suite</em>.”</p><p>She picked up her bag again and sashayed her way out of the room with her heels tapping the floor. </p><p>Mary touched Nick’s cheek, turning his face to her again. “Cas healed you?”</p><p>Nick patted her hand against his cheek and smiled slightly. “Good as new.”</p><p>She breathed out a sigh that was so deep it was as if she’d been holding it for the whole trip back from Florida. “Thank God.”</p><p>“Thank Sam,” Dean said, sensing Nick’s tension even though it didn’t make its place on his face. “He’s the one that pulled it off.”</p><p>“Yes,” Mary said fervently. “How is he?”</p><p>“No idea,” Dean said. “I’ve not spoken to him since he took off. He was in a bad way. I think it will be a while until he’ll be able to get back to us. Michael really hurt him. But… Mom, I’ve <em>never</em> seen anyone fight like him before. He took so much pain to get it done. He damn near tore his own arm off to stop Michael getting the cut in.”</p><p>“How did that happen?” Mary asked.</p><p>“It was amazing!” Dean said excitedly. “Michael had him on the ropes, and he’d been stabbed in the arm, but he—”</p><p>“You want a beer, Mom?” Nick cut in.</p><p>“Uh, sure.” She seemed confused by Nick’s reaction, possibly expecting his attitude towards Sam to have changed after what he’d done for them, the way Dean had expected it to. It seemed to have done the opposite.</p><p>“How about we go out for a drink?” Dean suggested. “And we need to eat. We can go to O’Connor’s; it’s burgers and half-price pitchers night.”</p><p>“That’s a great idea,” Mary said. “We made the trip here on protein bars and coffee.”</p><p>“You guys go ahead,” Nick said. “I’m not in the mood for company.”</p><p>“We can stay,” Dean offered, disappointed but accepting it.</p><p>“No, you go,” Nick said. “I’ll make something here for me and Rowena.”</p><p>“I thought you didn’t want company,” Mary said, sounding a little hurt.</p><p>“I won’t stay with her, but she’s not going to want burgers. I'll make some dinner and then crash." He smiled, though it looked forced. "I could do with some sleep."</p><p>Dean saw the need in his eyes and nodded.</p><p>Nick probably did need sleep. He was physically healed, but that kind of pain wore down more than your body.</p><p>“Okay, man,” he said. “Get some sleep. We won’t be that late back. Tomorrow we can work out what happens next. Only part of it is over.”</p><p>A dark look came into Nick’s eyes. “Yeah. There’s still stuff to do.”</p><p>Seeing Mary’s blank look, Dean said, “We’ve still got Michael’s monsters running around out there, maybe more dangerous now they don’t have a leader, and we found the Seal of Solomon on Michael before we burned his bones. If he had that, he might have been working on some other plan we don’t know about yet.”</p><p>“You think he opened a rift?” Mary asked. “Did he bring angels in?”</p><p>“We don’t know. We’ve got to find a way to be sure.”</p><p>“Tomorrow,” Nick said firmly.</p><p>“Sure,” Dean said. “Come on, Mom. I’ll give Cas a call so he and Jack can come meet us when they’re done in Sioux Falls.” He patted Nick’s shoulder and then grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair where he’d left it and picked up the Impala keys and tossed them from hand to hand. “Beer and burgers are waiting,” he said. </p><p>Mary gave Nick a searching look and followed Dean back towards the garage.</p><p>Dean felt Nick’s eyes on them as he left, his gaze pressing into him, but he didn’t look back. He thought this time alone was going to be good for Nick to get through what was going on in that head of his. He always thought too much, overanalyzed, and he handled that better when he could work through it in peace.</p><p>And Dean really did want to talk to his mom. He wanted help to deal with Sam’s situation, and Nick wasn’t the right person to ask for it. </p><p>xXx</p><p>Nick waited long enough to be sure Dean and his mother were gone before going to Rowena’s room and knocking on the door.</p><p>“Changing,” she called.</p><p>“Hurry up,” Nick barked. “We don’t have long.”</p><p>He heard sounds of movement inside, and then the door cracked open, and Rowena peered out, a satin robe wrapped around her. “Long until what?”</p><p>“Just hurry,” Nick said. “I’ll be in the library.”</p><p>He strode away, going straight to the cupboard in the library and taking out the candles they kept handy for spells and summonings. He set them on the table and then tapped his hands down on the wood as he waited.</p><p>The sound of Rowena’s heels reached him before she did, and he noted that she’d changed her dress, but her hair was hanging loose around her face, not in its usual neat coif.</p><p>“What’s going on, Nicholas?” she asked.</p><p>“It’s time to deal with Sam.”</p><p>She looked puzzled. “The Sam that just saved your and your brother’s lives and killed Michael?”</p><p>Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “Is that going to be a problem?”</p><p>“Not in the least. I just thought it might be for you. He did ride to the rescue.”</p><p>“That doesn’t change who he is,” Nick said. “He’s still a threat. Michael, the one being that could kill him without breaking a sweat, is gone now. If there was a perfect time for Lucifer to give Chuck the slip and drop back in his vessel, it’s now.”</p><p>Rowena smiled slightly. “You really believe that?”</p><p>“I do.”</p><p>He wasn’t lying completely. He believed Lucifer would be a threat if he came back, and Sam would be the vessel, but he was also doing this for himself. He didn’t want to see that face anymore; he needed the reminder of his pain gone. Dean had joined Cas in the ‘Sam Fan Club’ and that was even more unbearable for Nick. Dean would never see the threat Sam posed. Sam’s time as Lucifer’s vessel had surely tainted him. Now Michael was gone, how long would it be before Sam tried to take over the world? The only way Nick would ever again have peace of mind would be if Sam was gone too.</p><p>“What about Jack?” Rowena asked. “I thought he was going to be a part of this.”</p><p>“He’s out,” Nick said. “I don’t trust him to keep it quiet any more, not after Sam killed Michael for us.”</p><p>She clapped her hands together. “That’s fine with me. I was never sure he’d go through with it in the first place. There was a little too much dewy-eyed goodness in the boy. This is going to take strength that I don’t think he has.” She looked at the candles. “I see you’ve started. I’ve got everything else prepared. I had a feeling we’d be doing this in a rush. I’ll fetch my bag. We’re going to want the ingredients out of sight until he’s in position.”</p><p>“I’ll laydown the holy oil,” Nick said. “I don’t want him getting out when he realizes what we’re doing.”</p><p>“Good idea,” Rowena said, turning and rushing out.</p><p>Nick fetched an urn of holy oil from the storeroom. He would have liked to use runes, too, but there was no way Sam was going to be stupid enough to step into them. They couldn’t summon him here the way they had Lucifer when he was in Cas as he would be too suspicious. He had to be tricked inside.</p><p>When the oil was prepared, he took the hyperbolic pulse generator from the drawer and set it down on the table in its box.</p><p>Rowena came back with her large bag and set it down on the table. She opened the box and saw the pulse generator, then nodded and tucked it into her bag with the candles and bowl and hooked it over her arm. </p><p>“I’ll wait out of sight,” she said. “You get ready to pray.” She started away and then turned back and said, “Make it good, Nicholas. He’s going to need a reason to come back if the fight was as bad as I’m imagining.”</p><p>“He’s weakened,” Nick acknowledged, “but he’ll get back here when he hears what I have to say.” Nickhad been the one to take down the sigils that blocked prayer, but had not yet taken down the sigils that prevented angel flight, specifically for this purpose, leaving Sam unable to fly in. Nick wanted to control Sam’s arrival.</p><p>Rowena smiled cruelly and hid herself out of sight in the hall. Nick tucked the lighter up his sleeve and raised his voice as he said the prayer that would bring Sam to them and end it, protecting the world from Lucifer and saving Nick’s peace of mind.</p><p>“Sam! You have to come to the bunker. It’s Dean, he’s hurt, and Castiel and Jack have been banished. Please, you have to heal him! I think he’s dying.”</p><p>He heard a soft laugh from the hall. “That will do it.”</p><p>“I know,” Nick said, forming his face into a mask as he heard the door fly open and Sam’s terrified voice shouting, “Dean!”</p><p>He almost sounded like he really cared, like Dean was his to love, not Nick’s.</p><p>He wasn’t.</p>
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<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Chapter 28</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much MaggieMay17 for beta’ing this for me and toning down Nick when I made him too dastardly. Thank you Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny who were with me from the beginning of this story to the very end. I can’t overstate how much help they both were to me, truly blessed ladies, and I miss them so much now I’m writing Marvel without them. <br/>This is the last chapter of this story, but the sequel is almost complete, so I will be able to continue to weekly posting schedule seamlessly. Remember that when you get to the ending and start penning attack reviews for the cliff-hanger.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sam stirred on the couch, and his eyes drifted open. It was dark outside the window, but he didn't know if it was the same night he'd arrived at the cabin and collapsed or if it was a new one. For all he knew, it might have been days since the fight.</p><p>Almost as soon as he’d gotten to the cabin, his legs and wings had given way, and he'd found himself face down on the floor, his blade falling from his hand beside him.</p><p>He’d spent some time lying there, bleeding and weak, before he’d found the will to get to his feet and tear off the tattered and blood-soaked clothes he was wearing that felt sickening against his skin. That had taken the last reserves of his strength, and he’d dropped onto the couch and fallen into a kind of stupor that made him drift on the edges of memories and awareness at the same time. It wasn’t sleep, he still had too much grace to allow him that, but it had been close. He’d not been able to move at least. If one of Michael’s monsters had attacked then, they could have torn him apart without him being able to fight back at all.</p><p>He felt stronger now, though, and he tested himself by trying to sit up. He found he could do it, albeit listing slightly to the side, and then struggled to his feet and ran his hands down his chest and stomach. The wounds Michael had left him had closed, though they’d left red scars. They were still raw inside, though, sending scorching pain through him. He thought it was going to take a long time for them to heal fully.</p><p>He tested his injured arm, the one with the deep slash that he’d inflicted on himself in a determined strike to win— the strike that had ended it. There was a red scar there that he could feel running around the side, too, and he imagined that it was going to be one he bore for the rest of his life, however long that happened to be.</p><p>Sam turned and walked to the bathroom. Keeping his eyes averted from the mirror, he wiped at his skin with a washcloth, removing the remaining blood. He would feel better if he could shower, but he didn’t think he had the energy.</p><p>He dressed in clean clothes and then went back to the living area of the cabin and picked up his blade. He weighed it in his hand for a moment and then tucked it up his right sleeve, feeling it fall into place against his skin and then disappearing. It would stay there until he needed it again, he knew.</p><p>He sat down on the couch again, feeling weakened by the energy he’d expended cleaning himself up, and mulled over what he needed to do next in his mind. Michael was dead, but Violet was alive; she needed to be stopped. She’d had a part in Michael’s plans and would perhaps still be a threat. More than that, he wanted to kill her for himself, for revenge.</p><p>Sam wanted to see her dead, but he wouldn’t kill her without talking to Billie first. Violet had betrayed her, too, and perhaps there was some consequence for doing that from Billie’s perspective. She might want to punish Violet in her own way.</p><p>He wouldn't do that yet, though. He was worn down, and he didn't think it was the right time to set himself up for another fight. If Billie gave him the go-ahead to hunt Violet, she would want it done there and then, and he wasn’t strong enough for another fight.</p><p>He wondered what Dean and Nick were doing. He’d left them a hell of a mess to clear up. Not only did Michael’s vessel need to be salted and burned, but there were also the bodies of the monsters Sam had battled outside, too. That was going to take them a while. He figured they’d burn them as burying them meant a pit that would take a long time to dig.</p><p>And Claire. He assumed Castiel had gotten the blood to her but had it been in time? Was Jody even still alive? The question jolted him, and he sat up straight. He was on the point of standing and flying to Sioux Falls to find out for himself, but the way his head swam at the movement stopped him. </p><p>Sam relaxed back against the couch cushions and reached out to Castiel within the voices in his mind, “Castiel, it’s Sam.”</p><p><em>“Sam?”</em> He sounded startled. <em>“Are you okay?”</em></p><p>“Yeah, fine,” Sam said. “Is Claire?”</p><p><em>“Yes.” </em>There was relief and fondness in Castiel’s voice as he said it. <em>“We were able to get the blood to her in time. No one was hurt. She was struggling with the aftermath when we first arrived, but she’s in a better place now emotionally. Jack and I are with her.”</em></p><p>“How long’s it been since the fight?” Sam asked.</p><p>
  <em>“A full day. Have you been unconscious all that time?”</em>
</p><p>“I don’t know what I’ve been,” Sam said. “But I’m okay now. Mostly.”</p><p>
  <em>“Will you come to see us? I think Dean would like to speak to you.”</em>
</p><p>“Sure,” Sam said. “I’ll need a few days, though.”</p><p>Or a few weeks. He’d said stuff to Dean that Dean was going to question. Perhaps it was better to sever ties now. He didn’t <em>need </em>to see them at all now that Michael was dead. He could make it his own mission to deal with Michael's monsters and Violet and let them go on with their lives in peace.</p><p><em>“Okay. Rest and take care of yourself,”</em> Castiel said and then paused, his silent presence in Sam’s mind still there. <em>“Thank you, Sam, for what you did. We’re all grateful to you.”</em></p><p>“It was my job,” Sam said, then withdrew from his own mind and severed the connection.</p><p>Claire was okay. She'd not fed, so the cure had worked. There hadn’t been a terrible price to Michael’s distraction.</p><p>He relaxed again and closed his eyes. He liked the idea of leaving the cabin, going to a mountain perhaps, and just being free, but he felt so worn down and didn't think taxing his wings was a good idea.</p><p>Suddenly, a panicked voice ripped through his mind. “Sam! You have to come to the bunker. It’s Dean, he’s hurt, and Castiel and Jack have been banished. Please, you have to heal him! I think he’s dying.”</p><p>Sam was on his feet and in flight in a split second, coming to rest outside the door of the bunker and shoving his weight behind his shoulder as he slammed into it. The door flew open, and he ran inside, shouting for his brother even as Gabriel’s voice shouted at him within.</p><p>
  <em>He’s lying, Sam! He said Cas was banished, but he’s with Claire. This is a trap. </em>
</p><p>The words didn’t fully register with him; he was wholly focused on his brother’s safety.</p><p>He flew down the steps and into the library where Nick stood. He didn’t look worried or scared, not the way he would if Dean really was in danger, but he seemed wired, full of anxious energy.</p><p>Sam came to a stop in front of him and said, “What’s going on, Nick?”</p><p>Nick withdrew a lighter from his pocket and flipped the flame alight, then dropped it onto the floor. A circle of fire sprang up around Sam, its heat giving Sam the same sense of menace it had when the British Men of Letters had trapped him.</p><p>“I’m dealing with you,” Nick said, his voice a threat in itself. “Come on, Rowena.”</p><p>Sam stared at Nick as Rowena walked to stand with him and set a bag down on the table. She gave Sam a quick, fearful look, and then began extracting items from the bag, candles, a copper bowl, bags of herbs and powders, and a wooden box that Nick took from her and opened, his eyes fixed on Sam.</p><p>Sam saw the hyperbolic pulse generator, and the meaning of the ingredients Rowena had produced for her spell work made sense. They were planning to send him to the Cage.</p><p>The idea would have horrified him if he'd believed it would work, but he'd already seen proof that it wouldn't. It did anger him, though. What had he done to Nick to deserve this? He'd saved his life.</p><p>“Why are you doing this?” he asked.</p><p>Nick’s lips twisted into a grimace smile. “Because I have to.”</p><p>Sam closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them with a sigh and said, “Okay. Do what you need to do.” He looked between Nick and Rowena. “Both of you.”</p><p>Rowena frowned. “You want us to do this?”</p><p>Nick glowered. “It’s a trick, Rowena. Reverse psychology. He doesn’t think we’ll really do it.”</p><p>Rowena’s eyes narrowed. “We will.” She tipped some of the ingredients into the bowl, lit the candles, and fixed her eyes on Sam. </p><p><em>You don’t think maybe you should call Cas? </em>Gabriel asked. <em>What if it does work this time?</em></p><p>Sam considered a moment and then shook his head slightly. He knew it wasn't going to work; the Brits had proved that, and he thought both Nick and Rowena needed to do this for themselves. Something that looked like him had damaged them both terribly. They had to take back the power over them they thought Sam had. If they could take this stand and see him walk away from it without hurting them, they would see he really wasn’t a threat to them. It would help them both.</p><p>“You ready, Rowena?” Nick asked.</p><p>Rowena gave the bowl a small shake and said, “Yes.”</p><p>Nick fixed hate-filled eyes on Sam and started the chant that would have expelled him from his vessel if he was any other angel, lifting the pulse generator in front of him. “<em>Vade retro.  Princeps Inferni…”</em></p><p>Sam stood perfectly still and kept his expression serene.</p><p>Nick's color rose, and he spat the words at Sam as if they could wound him. <em>“Mah tay, ez loh, say tah!”</em></p><p>Rowena threw a match into the bowl, not seeming to have realized it hadn’t worked, and shouted, “Go to hell!”</p><p>There was a beat of silence, and they both stared at Sam in horror. Sam looked back at them, keeping his stance open and unthreatening.</p><p>“It didn’t work,” Rowena whispered. “Did you do it wrong? Try again!”</p><p>Nick lifted the generator again, and Sam said, "It won't work, Nick. You can't expel me. I'm not like Lucifer. This isn't my vessel. It's me."</p><p>“Then we’ll find another way.” Nick’s eyes darted to the shelf, where Sam saw Michael's blade had taken the place of the ceremonial sword that had been displayed there. “I’ll kill you.”</p><p>“You can’t,” Sam said. “It’s not your job.”</p><p>“It sure as hell is! I get to do this! I’ve earned this.”</p><p>“Hurry!” Rowena said desperately. “The fire.”</p><p>Sam saw that the flames were lowering, going out. He felt no fear as he knew Nick wouldn't reach him with the blade inside the fire, and he wasn't going to stick around when the fire was out. He felt he had to help Nick, though. Sam was going to be fine, he would get out of this, but Nick was going to need his brother after.</p><p>He withdrew into his mind and said, “Castiel, you need to come to the bunker. Nick needs help.”</p><p><em>“What’s wrong with him?” </em>Castiel asked, his voice panicked. <em>“What’s happening?”</em></p><p>Sam couldn’t answer as that was the moment the flames died completely, and Nick surged forward with the blade stretched in front of him.</p><p>Sam's own blade slipped into his hand, and he brought it up to block Nick's strike.</p><p>“I’m not going to hurt you, Nick,” he said.</p><p>He attempted to stretch his wings, but they remained curled at his back, and he realized they hadn't removed the warding that Michael had put in place. He couldn't fly out past them. He could only walk away.</p><p>He pushed Nick back with one hand and turned away.</p><p>“Nick!” Rowena shouted. “Do it!”</p><p>Sam walked towards the war room, still calm, but then there was a roar of rage, and he felt burning pain in his back that he arched away from. His mind was transported back years to Cold Oak. In that moment, it wasn’t Nick behind him, it was Jake; it wasn't an archangel blade, it was a filthy knife that was going to sever his spine and injure him so deeply that he would die in Dean's arms. </p><p>Anger filled him.</p><p>He spun around and threw out his arms. Rowena and Nick were thrown through the air by his pulse of grace, both hitting the walls and crumpling unconscious to the ground. He dropped his blade automatically, not trusting it in his hands while the anger surged.</p><p>He looked at Nick and saw the small pool of blood forming under his head that made his anger die and worry take its place. He’d hurt Nick, and that would hurt Dean.</p><p>He walked towards Nick, his intent to heal him, but before he could reach him, there was a roar of rage behind him, and he heard Nick's name being bellowed in fury by Dean.</p><p>xXx</p><p>Dean pushed his plate away, only a few fries and a smear of ketchup remaining on it, and picked up his beer. “And I don’t understand any of it,” he said before taking a swig.</p><p>Mary considered him a moment, obviously sorting through what Dean had told her, “So it sounded like you were supposed to love <em>Sam</em>?”</p><p>“Yeah, me and Sam were supposed to have some kind of legendary bond. Michael said it would have hurt me to see Sam die.”</p><p>“Would it?”</p><p>“No, not hurt. I mean, I don’t want him dead, I want to help him, but there’s no bond there. He’s nothing like family the way Michael made it sound. I wouldn’t lose anything if he died. I guess I’d just be disappointed.” He sighed. “It’s just more Michael screwing with us, and I get it, but I wish he’d not done it. With that and what he did to Nick, the way it’s affected him…”</p><p>"We've got to help him," Mary said. "We can now. Michael is dead, and Lucifer is gone. Maybe if we keep Sam away, too, he'll be better."</p><p>Dean grimaced. "I wanted to help him, Mom. He lost his family, and we all know how that feels."</p><p>“Who do you want to help more?” Mary asked. “Nick or Sam?”</p><p>Dean’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not even a question.”</p><p>“Then you know what you have to do,” Mary said, sipping her beer.</p><p>Dean sighed. He really did want to help Sam. It felt important, like there really was some kind of bond there that Michael referred to, though it was impossible. But Nick had to come first. He was Dean’s brother. He was the one that mattered. Dean would have to leave Sam to deal with his own mess.</p><p>“Dean!”</p><p>The voice came from across the room, and Dean looked up to see Castiel and Jack squeezing though the people towards them. They both looked stressed, and Dean’s heart ratcheted up a level.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” he asked.</p><p>“It’s Nick,” Castiel said, and Dean and Mary leaped to their feet, almost upsetting the table. “Sam called to me on angel radio. He said I needed to come to the bunker because Nick needed help.”</p><p>“Then why the hell aren’t you there?” Mary asked furiously.</p><p>“Because Sam called to me on angel radio,” Castiel said. “He didn’t sound stressed or scared. He sounded concerned. I knew that I wasn’t the one Nick needed; it was you, Dean. We came here to take you to him.”</p><p>Dean and Mary exchanged a glance. Dean guessed her thoughts were tracking his. If Sam was with Nick again, adding to the way he was stressing –and twisted up as he was after what Michael had done – he was going to be a mess. He needed Dean for that.</p><p>“Let’s get out of here,” he said, weaving through the people in the room to the door then heading into the cool evening air. The others followed him out, and Dean said, "Get us back home, Jack.”</p><p>Jack gave no answer, but Dean felt the swoop in his stomach of flight, and then his feet hit the ground outside the bunker. His worry ratcheted up as he saw that the door had been busted open.</p><p>“Nicky,” he whispered even as he ran through the open door and down the stairs.</p><p>He skidded at the bottom of the stairs and ran up the short flight of steps into the library where a living nightmare was a tableau in front of him.</p><p>Nick was unconscious on the floor, a smear of blood on the wall where he’d evidently hit and a pool forming under his head. Rowena was crumpled against another wall.</p><p>Sam was advancing on Nick, unarmed but still a living threat.</p><p>“Nick!” Dean roared, and he ran towards them, pausing to snatch up the long silver blade from the floor.</p><p>Sam turned, his hands coming up defensively, and his mouth opened to speak, but Dean’s hand was already in motion, driving forward.</p><p>It was all suddenly crystal clear to him. Sam wasn’t an ally—there was no kind of relationship between them at all, let alone a bond. He had them fooled all along. He was the enemy.</p><p>The blade sank into Sam's chest right over his heart, and Dean dragged it out. Blood and grace poured from the wound, and Sam looked down at his chest and then up at Dean, looking oddly surprised as a whisper fell from his lips, "Dean…" before his eyes blazed with light, and he collapsed.</p><p>Dean stood over him, watching him fall, and then his knees buckled as his head seared with pain, and a wash of images, voices, and horror flooded through him.</p><p>He saw a lifetime of memories, Sam’s face as he changed from baby to toddler to young man. He saw Sam laughing and crying, angry and excited.</p><p>He saw his brother.</p><p>Gut-wrenching pain flooded through him and set his veins on fire.</p><p>A scream built in his chest and came out as a stunned gasp, “Sammy! No!”</p><p>xXx</p><p>Nick heard the cries, and his head throbbed with pain. His eyes cracked open, and he saw a flood of blue-white light that seared his vision before fading.</p><p>“Sammy! No!” Dean’s voice howled, “No!”</p><p>Someone was screaming, a woman, and Nick sat up to see Mary standing with her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide and filled with horror. Castiel was standing behind her, his face stunned as his hands supported her back, holding her upright.</p><p>Nick looked down, searching for Dean, and found him.</p><p>There were ashy remains of wings on the floor, but they’d been disturbed by the man that had crawled through them. Dean was kneeling with Sam’s body clutched against his chest. As Mary screamed, Dean rocked Sam, howling for him as if he was in agony.</p><p>“What happened?” Nick asked.</p><p>His voice seemed to reach Dean, and his howls cut off and became a moan. “Sammy. I remember now. I…” He made a choked sobbing sound. “I… Nicky, I killed my little brother.”</p><p>Nick stared in horror as he saw his brother clutching Sam to him, and then he groaned as a flood of images and voices filled his mind. Memories, he realized.</p><p>He remembered, too. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So… How was that for an ending? Ncsupnatfan and VegasGranny wanted more from this. They wanted to know what Nick remembered, for it to be clear before the next story, but I didn’t want to take away all the fun. The question will be answered very quickly in the next story, of course, but I wanted to do it at my own pace. <br/>If you agree with them, if you want to know more now and hate me for not telling, I apologize. <br/>Until the next story…<br/>Clowns or Midgets xxx</p>
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